Liam Lawson reveals 'panic' in untelevised Singapore GP radio message: 'I'm pretty f***ed'
Photo: Race Pictures
Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
In an untelevised radio message, Liam Lawson admitted he "panicked a little bit" as Mercedes' George Russell chased him down in the final stages of the Singapore GP. The Kiwi managed to stay ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and the Silver Arrows driver, securing P7 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
The result, alongside Alpine's failure to score points in Singapore - with Pierre Gasly finishing in P11 for the Enstone team - has seen Racing Bulls strengthen their grip on P5 in the Constructors, the often-dubbed 'best-of-the-rest' position.
After Singapore, Lawson's Racing Bulls lead Alpine by 32 points in the championship, with a maximum of six rounds of F1 action remaining on the 2026 calendar.
While Lawson finished just under two seconds ahead of Audi's Hulkenberg in Singapore, it was Russell he was most concerned about, with the Briton on a recovery drive after taking an engine penalty and starting P19. Ultimately, it was P9 for the Mercedes driver.
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Lawson radio messages reveal 'panic' over Russell
After crossing the line on Lap 62, Lawson admitted he was concerned by Russell's pace to his race engineer Alexandre Iliopoulos, who said: "And that is P7. Whoo. Everything as to plan. And Gasly P11 for info. Fail 84 fail and cool the brakes if you can... You can pick up some speed and lift off.”
Lawson, expected to stay at Racing Bulls in 2027, replied: “Copy that. Yeah, good race, guys. Really, really good," and when asked whether he was tired after what is the most gruelling test on the F1 calendar, the Kiwi said: “Yeah, I’m pretty f**ked, yeah!”
"That felt long," Lawson continued. "That felt really long. Very fast pace as well. Like, Nico was actually really quick at the end.” Iliopoulos then replied: “Yeah. But I think you told him ‘goodbye’ at some point and you pulled away and then that was a good safety margin. Box, box.”
Lawson finally admitted to the concern caused by Russell's charge, but was quickly reassured by his race engineer. “I mean, yeah. I panicked a bit. I thought Russell was gonna get to us," the 24-year-old said.
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Iliopoulos concluded: “Ah, you managed to keep him behind. And Russell actually degged a bit at the end. He couldn’t keep overtake [mode].”
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