By Alex Powell in Melbourne What a difference a year makes. This time twelve months ago, Liam Lawson had just begun the lowest point of his Formula One career. On Red Bull debut, the Kiwi struggled to get to grips with the demands of the troublesome RB21 car, and qualified 18th out of 20 cars for the opening race of the season in Melbourne. But one year on, with a whole season of experience under his belt, the 24-year-old took another step towards making sure his worst days are behind him, and qualified eighth for the Australian Grand Prix. “It’s good, last year sucked.” Lawson beamed immediately after qualifying. “I’ve always liked driving this track. “I enjoyed practice last year and getting used to the track. Obviously it was a disappointing weekend overall, but it’s nice to have a strong start. It’s a very fun track.” In part, 2025’s struggles came down to being underprepared in a difficult car, on a track he’d never driven on, after missing the last practice session with a pneumatic issue. He’d eventually crash out of the race after being left on slick tyres for one lap too long as rain fell. Less than a month later, he was demoted to Racing Bulls in one of the most brutal driver switches in the sport’s history. Now, he has the chance to right those wrongs. Considerable time has gone into Lawson’s preparation for Melbourne, not just with pre-season tests in Barcelona and Bahrain, but extensive work in the simulator, as Racing Bulls gave him every chance to adapt to 2026’s regulation changes. And while points aren’t a guarantee, as all teams continue to learn about their new cars, Lawson is better placed than most to make the most of his qualifying position. Liam Lawson after qualifying eighth for Formula One's Australian Grand Prix. Photo / Red Bull Starting eighth sees Lawson as the second-placed of Red Bull’s four cars, one ahead of teammate Arvid Lindblad, and 12 clear of four-time world champion Max Verstappen. Only former teammate Isack Hadjar did better among the organisation’s two teams, by qualifying third. But keeping hold of eighth will be a challenge, given it’s still not clear exactly how the new cars will start races, and long term reliability over the course of a grand prix. At the very least, Lawson did show impressive pace on the hard tyres during practice, setting his best time across the three sessions on what’s supposed to be the slowest compound. But given Racing Bulls’ work in pre-season saw very little disruption from the new Ford power unit, points are definitely on the cards. “It’s what we were shooting for, but we probably weren’t expecting this,” he admitted. “The goal is to stay where we are. Truthfully, it’s very hard to know exactly where we sit compared to everyone else. We’ve had good long run pace, but the biggest thing is going to be having a reliable car. “So far, the efforts from Ford power trains have been very strong. Obviously tomorrow we’ll find out how reliable the cars are [but] we’ve had a strong pre-season with reliability.” Most importantly, success in Melbourne would give Lawson the chance to celebrate with the large contingent of Kiwi fans in attendance, who’ve either travelled from across the ditch, or are based in Australia. While Lawson might live in Monaco, and race for a team based in Italy, Melbourne is realistically the closest thing he’ll ever get to a home race. And asked about being so well supported by the thousands of Kiwi fans who’ve packed into Albert Park over the last few days, Lawson made it clear how much he appreciates the love coming his way. “It’s been very cool,” he said. “I did the fan forum this morning and saw a lot of New Zealand flags. “It’s as close as we get to a home race, so the support’s been cool. [There’s been] a lot of Whittakers, I think I’m on 15 blocks so far.” The Australian Grand Prix begins at 5pm on Sunday (NZT). Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.