Lawson can't suppress a laugh after Red Bull question: 'It's not my choice'

Liam Lawson still doesn’t know where he’ll be driving in the 2027 Formula 1 season. The Racing Bulls driver was asked about his future in Monaco but admitted he has little control over it. If it were up to him, his contract for next season would have been signed long ago.

Lawson has enjoyed a strong campaign with Racing Bulls, scoring the majority of the team's points so far. Despite his impressive performances, there is still no certainty over his long-term future within the Red Bull programme. During media day in Monaco, the New Zealander was asked by GPblog whether any discussions regarding a 2027 seat were taking place behind the scenes.

"No, it's definitely early at the moment to talk about it,” Lawson said. “But the focus is on trying to maintain the consistency we've shown in the first part of the year."

Last year, Lawson had to wait a long time for clarity about his future, and now a quick decision doesn’t seem likely either. When it’s suggested that he’d probably rather not wait until the end of the season, the Racing Bulls driver responds with a laugh.

"It's not my choice!” Lawson says. He then makes it clear he’d prefer to lock in his future as soon as possible. “If it were my decision, I'd sign something right now for next year, but it seems like a lot of things are focused on keeping the consistency."

While his future remains open, Lawson is fully focused for now on the race weekend in Monaco. The New Zealander expects the street circuit to be one of the few tracks on the calendar where drivers can finally push flat out again without constantly having to factor in energy management.

"I think so. It should be” Lawson says when asked if Monaco might deliver the best Saturday of the season. “I mean, it's definitely at least one track that we should be able to drive flat out, not thinking about anything. We definitely will be thinking about a lot of things, but there should be no restrictions on what we're doing with management."

That, he says, makes the weekend more appealing for the drivers than perhaps in other years. “And we're all pretty excited. Of all the tracks we go to this year, it should be the most," he says. At the same time, Lawson expects traffic to play a major role again in qualifying. With 22 cars on the narrow street circuit, he says it will be quite a challenge to find a clear lap.

"It's going to be very, very hard this weekend. I think traffic here already is very hard. So I think, honestly, it's something that is definitely going to be more difficult this year,” explains Max Verstappen’s former teammate. “Regardless of whether the cars are maybe a little bit smaller or not. I think, honestly, it's not going to make a difference. It's going to be very, very hard to manage that traffic, especially in Q1."

Lawson is also cautiously optimistic about the new generation of cars. According to the Racing Bulls driver, the cars will slide more than in previous years, but that could actually help bring the field closer together. "We won't have as much grip as in previous years. We still have less downforce, so we'll be sliding around a bit more. Yeah, I don't know. I think we'll find out when we drive. But I think they could be closer here than other places last year." Lawson concludes.