Jenson Button praises Liam Lawson's resilience in Formula 1 comeback story

Wednesday, 10 June 2026

Former world champion Jenson Button says few drivers recover from being unceremoniously dumped by a top team like Liam Lawson was by Red Bull last year.

The 24-year-old Kiwi driver has bounced back strongly in 2026, currently sitting ninth in the drivers' championship with 26 points post-Monaco.

Lawson advanced to Q3 in qualifying and went on to secure a fifth-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix, matching his best-ever F1 result.

Formula 1’s 2009 world champion believes Liam Lawson’s comeback story has already reached rarefied company.

Jenson Button highlighted the point that few drivers recover from being unceremoniously dumped by a top team, as Lawson has.

The Kiwi driver was sensationally dumped from Red Bull’s top table following just two rounds last year, but 2026 has been a completely different season, with Lawson now sitting ninth in the driver’s championship.

“His short career has been such a roller-coaster ride and not many people come back from losing their seat in a top team, but he has and he's done a really good job,” Button said on SKY Sports.

Button rated Lawson’s qualifying performance, to advance to Q3 and eventually qualify tenth, as one of the best performances of the 24-year-old’s career. It ultimately helped Lawson to secure an equal career-best finish of fifth in the Miami Grand Prix.

Button’s fellow F1 broadcaster Simon Lazenby agreed.

“You look at his short career so far, he's been through a lot of adversity, but he's overcome it,” Lazenby said.

“It's like he's come out the other side from his Red Bull experience with even more steel,” Lazenby said on SKY Sports.

Former F1 driver, now presenter, Martin Brundle was another to highlight Lawson’s resilience.

“More diamond than steel, in terms of his resilience,” Brundle said. “Having to mind manage, sort of getting kicked out of the Red Bull five minutes into it sort of thing.”

Red Bull has high hopes for Lawson’s rookie teenage team-mate, Arvid Lindblad and also for academy driver Nikola Tsolov, who has won three races in Formula 2 already this season.

Button said that makes Lawson’s performances in 2026 even more impressive because he remains under pressure to retain his seat for 2027.

“This year is also a tough one because he's got a young team-mate (Lindblad) that's super quick and everyone is excited about which puts a lot of pressure on your shoulders - even though he's not that old himself,” he said.

Lawson’s eighth (four points) in the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix opened his season tally after failing to score any points in his two weekends at Red Bull and his first five events back at Racing Bulls.

However, in 2026, the Kiwi driver already has 26 points, post Monaco, with that tally coming from two fewer races following the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Lawson’s career is looking more stable than ever, but no sport in the world is more cut-throat than F1 and Brundle is interested to see where the Racing Bulls’ senior driver is at by the end of the season.

“Let's see, he carries some confidence, I like that and obviously a lot of talent, so we'll see how he gets on.

“I think he's got plenty of headroom yet in his career in Formula 1,” Brundle said.