How Lawson gained the upper hand over Racing Bulls team mate Lindblad in Hungary

The battle between Racing Bulls drivers Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad has been an entertaining aspect of the 2026 season, and in Hungary split strategies proved decisive as both scored again.

Lawson had the upper hand through practice at the Hungaroring, while Lindblad lost most of FP3 to a late power unit change. But the Briton recovered to qualify P9, two places ahead of Lawson, with Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg between them.

However, it was the New Zealander who had the upper hand at the start, jumping past both his rivals (and the struggling George Russell) to claim an initial eighth.

"It wasn't a great Lap 1,” said Lindblad. “So obviously I'm not the happiest with that. But I'll look into it. Then from there, I think pace was quite similar. Maybe he was a tiny bit quicker.”

Lawson edged ahead early, before losing time in the Verstappen/Hamilton battle after the frontrunners made their first stops.

"I was just trying not to get in the way and be too much involved,” said Lawson. “I wasn't getting lapped, so I didn't have to let them go. I didn't expect them to go by. Obviously, I saw the late lunge. It ended up costing me so much time behind them, which at the time was a bit stressful. But it was a good move. It was a very Max move!”

The plan at this stage was to go for a one-stop with a long first stint on the medium, and thus both drivers had an eye on tyre management.

However, Hulkenberg kept them on their toes, and after the Audi driver stopped, Racing Bulls reacted by pitting Lindblad first on Lap 20, and then Lawson a lap later, with the latter just staying ahead.

Hulkenberg’s ongoing presence then led Racing Bulls to split strategies. Lawson pitted for a second time on Lap 42, while Lindblad stayed out to pursue the original one-stop plan – an option ultimately shared only by the other Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto.

“I don't know what Liam was asking, but I was saying I think it's going to be a two,” said Lindblad. “So maybe I helped him out! But yeah, I was saying I think it could be a two, and they need to be on it. Even before the race, I was telling them that I think it's going to be a two. The default plan was a one, but we had it in the background.”

Lindblad said recent hot races had made him wary of stretching the medium tyres too far.

“So I just got that feeling, and then on the medium I was going pretty slow in the beginning, and they still weren’t very nice, and we ended up boxing on Lap 21. It was going to be a 50-lap stint.”

On soft tyres, Lawson had stronger pace than Lindblad on older hards, catching and passing him on Lap 62 to take P8. Hulkenberg also demoted Lindblad to P10, after the British driver had completed a 49-lap stint on the hard tyres.

Lindblad accepted that, on this occasion, his strategy had not played out.

“It was a bit of a shame the one-stop didn't work, but I fully understand from the team's point of view,” he said. “It was a big question mark going to the race. Then we saw Nico trigger the two, and we decided to split the strategy with the cars, which made sense, because if the hard hung on better, I would have looked like a hero being P8. And unfortunately, it didn't. So Liam was the one that maximised.

“I think from the team's point of view, it was the maximum that was possible today. So I don't have any regrets about the one not working, because it could have also been the other way around quite easily.”

Lawson was delighted that things had gone his way after a change of plan.

“We didn't plan on two-stopping, so that was something that was a surprise,” he said. “I'd been managing the first part of that hard stint, and I could feel that there was something going on behind, because just the communication with Alex [Iliopoulos], he was mentioning the Audis, but not saying too much. And then out of nowhere, it was push for me to box.

“Obviously a long stint on the soft at the end. But it was a great call from the team, and the car's been really, really strong today.”