‘Oh my god, man’: Liam Lawson finishes 12th at Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix
Monday, 24 March 2025
Liam Lawson’s exasperated sigh summed up his weekend to forget in Shanghai, where he struggled to get to grips with a Red Bull car his four-time world champion team-mate Max Verstappen has described as “extremely tough” to drive.
“Oh my God, man,” was the Kiwi’s immediate reaction as he crossed the line, finishing 16th on track, but moving up first to 15th, as Jack Doohan of Alpine was hit by a 10-second penalty, then to 12th, as Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton and Alpine driver Pierre Gasly were all disqualified for technical infractions.
Oscar Piastri won from pole position for McLaren, with his team-mate Lando Norris second and George Russell of Mercedes third. Verstappen came fourth after falling behind both Ferrari drivers early on, before recovering to finish ahead of them when the chequered flag was waved.
After qualifying last on the grid on Saturday, an effort he owned as “just not good enough,” Lawson ultimately started from pit lane, as Red Bull opted to make what team boss Christian Horner later said were “radical changes” to the set-up of his car in an effort to improve his performance.
Lawson gained two places on the opening lap when Sauber drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenburg both went off, then moved up to 17th when Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso was forced to withdraw with a brake issue.
From there, however, it was “a bit of a slog,” as his race engineer Richard Wood put it when responding to his post-race comments.
Lawson pitted after 18 laps despite starting on hard tyres, then again after 12 laps on mediums, when Ollie Bearman passed him at the turn 14 hairpin in his Haas.
Shortly after resuming on hard tyres for his third and final stint, Lawson completed his only pass of the day, on Hulkenburg.
He gained another place when Yuki Tsunoda – the Racing Bulls driver who missed out when the Kiwi claimed the second Red Bull seat for 2025 – was forced to pit to repair a damaged front wing.
In the closing laps Lawson looked like he might have a chance to pass the other Racing Bulls driver, Isack Hadjar, who was locked in a battle with Doohan. At one point they both went off, with the incident earning the Australian rookie the penalty that put him below Lawson in the final standings.
Lawson couldn’t get close enough to Hadjar to really challenge him, however, so he had to settle for 15th. Even when it later became 12th, it did little to quieten speculation about his immediate future.
“The balance was good for one lap,” Lawson told Wood afterwards. “Then it was just no (grip from his front tyres) and I can’t get on power.”
“We'll take the lessons from today,' his race engineer reassured him.
Lawson finished 14th in the sprint race in China on Saturday and after he also qualified 18th then crashed out in wet conditions at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, there is plenty of noise around how secure his Red Bull seat is – or isn’t.
After the season-opening race last weekend, Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko said of Lawson: “We have to let him cool down a bit now and observe his development over the first three to five races.”
But after the 23-year-old’s qualifying failure in China, Marko said: “This is not what we expected.”
He then noted that Hadjar’s form had been “absolutely fascinating,” adding: “The sun [Hadjar] and the shadow [Lawson] are close together and we'll see what happens.”
The same evening, Tsunoda fuelled speculation of a driver swap by saying he would “100%” be ready to drive for Red Bull at the next Grand Prix, in his native Japan from April 4-6.
Verstappen spoke about his own struggles with the RB21 around the same time, implying his pedigree as a Formula 1 great was helping him compete at the pointy end of the grid in a car that was throwing up plenty of challenges in comments that showed support for his team-mate.
Speaking about the Racing Bulls duo, he told Dutch media: “They’re doing very well, they’re very close to me.
“It also shows that our car is extremely tough. I think if you put Liam in the Racing Bulls car, he will go faster. I really think so.
“That car is easier to drive than ours. I also noticed that when I talk to Liam.
“Last year, I didn’t think the difference between him and Yuki Tsunoda was that big. Otherwise, the team wouldn’t make the choice to put him in at Red Bull either.”
Formula 1 – Chinese Grand Prix
1: Oscar Piastri; 2: Lando Norris; 3: George Russell
4–10: Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon, Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon, Ollie Bearman, Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz
12: Liam Lawson