{"id":29306,"date":"2026-07-18T00:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/29306\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T00:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:56:14","slug":"formula-1-racing-bulls-boss-explains-why-liam-lawson-was-overlooked-for-car-upgrade-in-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/29306\/","title":{"rendered":"Formula 1: Racing Bulls boss explains why Liam Lawson was overlooked for car upgrade in Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s not so easy, we don\u2019t like bringing updates for just one car,\u201d Permane explained. \u201cIt was impossible for us to do it to two cars. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo what I did was sat down with both drivers in Austria, on Saturday evening. We\u2019d had a very good qualifying, I thought \u2018while everyone is in a good mood, I\u2019ll give some bad news. We have a good update coming, but we can only do one car for Spa. The next car will be done for the race after, in Budapest\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suggested the simple option, to make it fair, to upgrade no cars for Spa and then both for Budapest. [Lawson and Lindblad] looked at me like I was crazy. I wouldn\u2019t have ever done that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next thing I said was we could flip a coin, or make it a bit of fun and say whoever qualifies in front in Silverstone gets the upgrade. They both signed up for it, and that\u2019s what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

That qualifying session saw Lindblad start ninth to Lawson\u2019s 10th<\/a>, just 0.412s clear of his teammate to earn the upgrade. Lawson got his own back by finishing sixth in the grand prix<\/a>, while Lindblad crossed the line seventh.<\/p>\n

Regardless, after deciding the upgrade\u2019s destination in such a novel fashion, Permane also asserted that Lawson will be on the receiving end, should the situation arise again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ll do, if it happens again later in the season \u2013 we\u2019ve got another big thing coming at some point \u2013 it will go to Liam. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll automatically get it the next time. We tried to put a bit of fun to it, rather than just allocating it to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LiamLiam Lawson in the Racing Bulls garage during the Belgian Grand Prix. Photo \/ Red Bull<\/p>\n

Either way, Racing Bulls\u2019 driver pairing is quickly becoming one of the most competitive on the grid.<\/p>\n

Leading into Spa, Lawson sits 10th in the drivers championship, one place and 19 points clear of his teammate.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, they trail Alpine by just one point in the race for fifth in the constructors championship, and for the title of \u201cbest of the rest\u201d behind Formula One\u2019s top four teams \u2013 Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.<\/p>\n

There have already been signs that things could get complicated between Lawson and Lindblad, notably when the rookie appeared to ignore team orders in Austria<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But with a driver\u2019s first objective always being to beat their teammate, Permane expects more competition between Lawson and Lindblad. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to have two quick guys, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be some management needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re incredibly close. If you look this morning [Free Practice One], their ideal laps are separated by milliseconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be nip and tuck all year, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Powell<\/a> is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s not so easy, we don\u2019t like bringing updates for just one car,\u201d Permane explained. \u201cIt was impossible…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[16210,2157,1787,16218,16226,7,16212,16211,9102,16221,16225,16213,16224,1229,16209,16228,2569,16215,16214,16227,16216,16219,16223,6663,16220,16222,13916,16217,10608,14125,3128],"class_list":["post-29306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-16210","tag-after","tag-ahead","tag-alan","tag-arvid","tag-belgium","tag-boss","tag-bulls","tag-car","tag-down","tag-drivers","tag-explains","tag-favourites","tag-for","tag-formula","tag-given","tag-in","tag-lawson","tag-liam","tag-lindblad","tag-overlooked","tag-permane","tag-playing","tag-racing","tag-shut","tag-suggestion","tag-team","tag-upgrade","tag-was","tag-why","tag-with"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116938262793196165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}