Big Talking Points: Episode #1 - Austin

Following a lengthy hiatus to (successfully) complete the DFB C-License coaching course, I am back with a new column to bring the Big Points predicting community all the main talking points from the last race and recap where the big points were really scored. We begin the journey in Austin, Texas.

Lawson Loving Life

It is strange to think that while 86% of the grid have had their drives for 2027 confirmed, the future of Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls is not yet rubber stamped. The whole Formula 1 community (besides from Nikola Tsolov fans perhaps) is expecting the Kiwi to extend his contract with Red Bull’s sister team into 2027 and his 13th points scoring finish of 2026 in Austin for Racing Bulls and Red Bull certainly helped his cause.

In the battle to be the best of the rest, Lawson’s 9th place finish extended Racing Bulls’ lead over Alpine to 33 points to take the Faenza based outfit one step closer to their best ever finish in the constructor’s championship, including seasons under the guises of Toro Rosso and Alpha Tauri.

Once again, it was a largely lonely race for Lawson who was never significantly challenged by Pierre Gasly’s Alpine after a lengthy pitstop for the Frenchman left him adrift of the Kiwi. But the best of the rest is the aim for all the midfield runners and Lawson is also sitting pretty in 9th place in the driver’s championship, 35 points ahead of Gasly. It was lucky number 9th for any Big Points predictors that held Lawson in his qualifying position on their prediction grids.

With a contract extension more of a when than an if, Lawson will remain on the radar of predictors who are looking to finish their seasons with a flourish. That is certainly the aim for Lawson as the Kiwi looks to keep the pressure on Isack Hadjar and remind the Red Bull Racing team that he is still a contender to fill the second seat alongside Max Verstappen in the future.

More Hard Luck for Hulk

While Lawson is making a good habit of falling the right side of the highly coveted 10th position fence in the Big Points arena, Nico Hülkenberg once again crossed the line on the fringes of the points in 11th. It is the 5th time this season that the German has finished in the most devastating position on the grid for midfield runners to go with three 12th places.

The ultimate disappointment for Hulk will lie in the fact the Audi car was quick and competitive over the weekend. The team already knew that Gabriel Bortoleto would start at the back of the grid, making his drive to 13th even more impressive. But a poor run in Q2 left Hulk with more work to do in the race.

Starting 11th following the 5-place grid penalty taken by Arvid Lindblad, a shocking start coupled with no race ending incidents further up the road left Hulk agonisingly short of a precious point as Audi continue to chase down HAAS in the constructor’s standings. With millions at stake and only 7 points between the two teams, Hulk will be hoping to replicate recent results in Singapore (8th), Madrid (10th), Zandvoort (8th) and Budapest (9th) to fall the right side of the Big Points fence.

Alonso To Bring More Midfield Quality?

After the race in Austin, Fernando Alonso was quick to criticise Alexander Albon and other drivers in the bottom third of the grid after his race was effectively ruined on the first lap after an incident with Albon at turn 11. With damage to the bargeboard and floor, designs on a “P9 or P10 on merit” slipped away as the Spaniard trundled over the line in 16th.

While this writer was also left to rue the “low quality” driving (Alonso’s words, not mine) that put pay to any potential for Big Points for an Alonso 10th in the Head-to-Head league, Aston Martin will be disappointed by the failure to crown a more competitive weekend with a points scoring challenge.

As the Silverstone based team look to take any positives from what has been an appalling season after much was expected with design guru, Adrian Newey, at the helm, the slow progress seen in the Aston could perhaps persuade a few Big Points predictors to roll the dice on Alonso claiming another 10th, 9th or 8th before the final chequered flag is thrown.

Or Lance Stroll for that matter. We cannot forget that he can still be added to other predictor positions besides from First Retirement. Luckily for Stroll, the much-maligned Canadian, at least in the Big Points community, finished the race ahead of his teammate with only Oliver Bearman, Franco Colapinto, and Valtteri Bottas retiring from the race, possibly due to “low quality” racing. I will let you be the judge of that.