Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane praises Liam Lawson's faultless Monaco drive

Tuesday, 9 June 2026

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane made a rare post-race team radio appearance to praise Liam Lawson after he equalled his career-best finish of fifth at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Permane, who is seldom heard on the team airwaves told Lawson his drive was 'absolutely faultless' and left him 'speechless'.

Kimi Antonelli won the race, securing his fifth consecutive Grand Prix victory and extending his lead in the Formula 1 world championship.

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane has made a rare post-race team radio appearance to heap praise on Liam Lawson.

In an untelevised piece of audio from the Racing Bulls team radio, Permane told Lawson his drive for an equal career best fifth in the Monaco Grand Prix was faultless.

Permane’s words were congratulatory but his message and the pride in his voice told the real story.

As soon as Lawson crosses the finish line in each race, good, bad or otherwise, his engineer, Alexandre Iliopoulos, is on the radio to offer words of solace or celebration.

Since taking over as Racing Bulls team principal part-way through last season, Permane has never been the kind of team boss to be vocal over the team radio. In fact, he’s seldom heard at all.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff can often be heard speaking after Kimi Antonelli’s race engineer Peter 'Bono' Bonnington, especially after race victories and former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, was another to hold a constant airwaves presence.

Permane’s injection to the team radio was so rare, he even felt the need to tell Lawson who was on the line.

“Liam, it’s Alan, absolutely faultless mate, well done, well done,” Permane said after Lawson’s standout drive on the most iconic street circuit in world motorsport.

“Just awesome, absolutely awesome, I’m speechless,” Permane said.

“Thanks mate, that was pretty cool,” Lawson replied.

“It was a very good result.

“Big thank you for all the work,” Lawson said. “We had a very good car in the end.”

Lawson started tenth, after overcoming some mechanical issues before the race that jeopardised his position on the grid. He benefited from other drivers failing to finish and receiving penalties, but held his nerve around the tight circuit to match the fifth place he secured at last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

“We benefited at the end through some penalties to other people but we put our car where it mattered and scored big points today,” Permane said.

Antonelli scored his fifth straight grand prix win to extend his lead in the Formula 1 world championship.

Formula 1 continues next week in Spain with the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.