Liam Lawson has been told that he must unlock his "genius" driving more frequently after "inexplicable" slumps.
After returning to Racing Bulls from Red Bull after the 2025 Chinese GP, Lawson eventually went on to score points in seven races, with a career-best of fifth in Azerbaijan.
There, he also qualified third in the tricky conditions for another career-best, but during the next weekend in Singapore, Lawson endured a poor outing after crashes in both Friday and Saturday practice, qualifying 12th and racing to 15th.
It is these types of performances team principal Alan Permane wants to see reduced as Lawson steps into the team leader role alongside rookie Arvid Lindblad.
"What I would like from him is I would like to get him to the stage where we want to keep him here," Permane told GPBlog.
"I want him to deliver so that we think: 'Wow, we've got to hang on to this guy, he's really good.
"I see some real genius in his driving sometimes. He qualified third in Baku in very difficult situations. In Vegas qualifying, he qualified sixth.
"He had brilliant races in Spa, in Hungary, in Austria. There's some real talent there.
"Sometimes inexplicably, he will go out and Q1, and he doesn't understand it. "The good stuff is good, it's there, and he just [needs] to eliminate the poor, unexplained results that sometimes come.
"I think then I think once you can do that, the rest will start snowballing and improve."
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