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Lawson has transformed his standing within Formula 1 this year, climbing to ninth in the drivers’ championship with 49 points after bouncing back from his Red Bull demotion in early 2025. The 24-year-old has scored in nine of the 12 grands prix he has contested this season, as well as two sprint races, with his tally the highest of any driver outside the championship’s leading four teams. His progress was underlined at the Dutch Grand Prix, where a wrist injury for Isack Hadjar handed Lawson an unexpected second opportunity with Red Bull. Called into the senior team just days before the Zandvoort weekend, Lawson qualified eighth and a little more than a tenth behind Max Verstappen before finishing seventh to score his first points for Red Bull. Clarkson told Speedcafe Lawson’s performances across the season had placed him among F1’s standout drivers. “I think he’s been one of the drivers of the season. I think he’s been absolutely phenomenal,” Clarkson said. “And I think how good he’s been was reflected in the weekend he put together at Zandvoort. He gets the call-up three days before the race, or whatever it was. “And the last time he’d been in a Red Bull, he qualified last in Shanghai. And then he was demoted from the team, and then he goes to Zandvoort, and I just thought his approach to the whole weekend was absolutely spot on.” Lawson had initially been promoted to Red Bull alongside Verstappen for the beginning of the 2025 season, only to be returned to Racing Bulls after the opening two rounds in Australia and China. Clarkson was particularly impressed by the measured way Lawson approached his latest opportunity rather than immediately attempting to extract everything from the unfamiliar RB22. “He didn’t try and set the world alight on his first lap of practice on Friday morning. He built up to it,” he said. Lawson gradually closed the gap to Verstappen across the weekend before reaching Q3 for the first time as a Red Bull driver in grand prix qualifying. He was left as Red Bull’s sole runner in the race following Verstappen’s opening-lap crash and remained seventh to the finish despite receiving a late penalty for a yellow flag infringement. Clarkson revealed Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies had also been struck by how different Lawson appeared from the driver who struggled during his brief stint with the team last year. “Laurent Mekies told me after the race that he felt like he was a different driver,” Clarkson said. “He said he was hugely impressed by Liam and the job he did. And he’s now got his first points for Red Bull. “It’s kind of given Red Bull a bit of a headache hasn’t it? In terms of what they do next year.” Lawson’s longer-term future remains uncertain despite his strong campaign, with Red Bull also having Arvid Lindblad on the F1 grid and Formula 2 championship leader Nikola Tsolov progressing through its junior system. Clarkson said he believed Lawson had nevertheless done enough to warrant another season in F1 regardless of where Red Bull eventually placed him. “Liam Lawson 100 percent deserves to be in Formula 1 in 2027,” he said. “But I find it hard to pinpoint where that’s going to be at the moment.” Lawson will get another chance to underline his credentials this weekend, with Red Bull confirming he will again partner Verstappen at Monza as Hadjar continues his recovery. And while Clarkson has ranked Lawson among F1’s standouts of 2026, the veteran broadcaster added he believed championship leader Kimi Antonelli had produced the defining season. “It’s the story of the season for me, Kimi Antonelli,” Clarkson said. “We talk about improvement in Liam Lawson, well look at the improvement in Kimi Antonelli from 2025 to 2026.” Antonelli arrives at Monza 59 points clear of Mercedes team-mate George Russell and Lewis Hamilton after winning half of the grands prix held so far this year, along with one sprint race. The 20-year-old is set to face an additional challenge at his home race through an engine-related grid penalty, something Clarkson believed could remove some of the expectation surrounding the Italian while increasing the pressure on Russell to capitalise. The speed of the Mercedes package at Monza could still give Antonelli an opportunity to recover through the field, and Clarkson said he believed victory under those circumstances would effectively end any remaining doubt over the destination of the championship. “If Kimi Antonelli can win the Italian Grand Prix starting with a grid penalty, then, I think we’ve all seen enough anyway, but that will just be confirmation that is the the 2026 world champion right there,” Clarkson said. “I can’t see anyone beating him if he does that.” Opening practice for the Italian Grand Prix begins at 8.30pm AEST on Friday.