Liam Lawson closing in on century in tight race to beat all-time F1 record

Now Liam Lawson has secured his place on the 2027 grid with Racing Bulls, the New Zealander can turn his attention to beating an all-time team record.

Racing Bulls put an end to weeks of speculation on Thursday with the announcement that Lawson and Arvid Lindblad would form the team's 2027 driver pairing, with Nikola Tsolov having to wait longer to make his bow. 

For Lawson, with his future now secure, he can fully turn his sights to beating a team record, set in a former guise.

In 2021, Pierre Gasly scored 110 points for what was then AlphaTauri during a stunning season in the final year of the technical regulations. 

As of the Sao Paulo GP, and his seventh-place finish, Lawson has a total of 89 points to his name - 21 behind Gasly with three races remaining. 

He would require a sixth and two sevenths from the final three races to pass Gasly's tally. 

However, it must be caveated that 14 of Lawson's points were scored for Red Bull in the Dutch and Spanish GPs as he deputised for the injured Isack Hadjar.

His tally of 89 points is also just four behind the 93 Sebastian Vettel would have scored in 2008 if his haul of 35 is translated to the modern points system. 

Below, RacingNews365 has taken a look at the highest-placed driver in the championship since 2021, not from Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, or McLaren - with Lawson on course to become just the third driver to reach a century of points.