Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane says he has been impressed by Liam Lawson since the team introduced new front suspension for their VCARB 02 at the Austrian Grand Prix in June.

Lawson began the 2025 season racing for Red Bull’s senior team alongside Max Verstappen, but was sent back to Racing Bulls to partner Isack Hadjar after the second round in China due to concerns over his performance.

Permane was recently promoted to team principal of Racing Bulls after predecessor Laurent Mekies was called up to replace Christian Horner last month. He admitted that Lawson had not arrived back at the team in the best of mindsets.

“He’s done a great job, honestly,” Permane said. “Two races at Red Bull, obviously, were very tough for him. He won’t thank me for saying this, but he definitely was a bit downbeat. He didn’t have a spring in his step, and we’ve done what we can to help him there.

“To jump in our car straight away without having tested it was, of course, not easy. He’s up against Isack who has been outstanding this year. First race for him was Japan and Isack was absolutely flying there. So, it’s a tough introduction for him, but we’ve made some changes.”

Hadjar out-scored Lawson by 21 points to four over their first eight rounds together, but after a season-best finish of sixth at the Red Bull Ring, Lawson has scored the vast majority of Racing Bulls since then.

“He’s worked hard,” Permane said. “Him and his engineering team have worked really, really hard.

“We had a bit of a breakthrough in Austria. We had a new front suspension for him, which they developed through the simulator, and he really liked it, was really enthusiastic about it, and it worked there. We saw in Spa again, he’s performing. You could see after that race. Monaco was a decent race for him, but Austria, he had a spring back in his step.”

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