Lawson labeled his first weekend with Red Bull as “terrible.” Tire issues and lack of pace: Was promoting him really the right choice?
Liam Lawson’s first weekend as a Red Bull driver did not go as planned. Qualifying 18th and retiring from the race, the New Zealand driver endured a nightmare weekend from start to finish, never seeming in control of the situation. “The team and I worked hard to prepare for the season. For me, it’s like a home race,” he had said confidently before the event. Let’s find out what went wrong.
The Australian GP takes a bad turn right from Friday. In FP1, Lawson hits the wall and damages the floor of his RB21 after going over some curbs. In FP2, there’s no pace with either the soft or medium tires. The first day ends with him in 16th and 17th place, far behind his teammate Verstappen (P5 and P7). “We can’t pinpoint why it’s been so difficult so far. We need to improve our pace on a single lap, but the long run hasn’t been great either.” That was his comment at the end of Friday.
On Saturday, the situation doesn’t improve; in fact, it gets worse: Lawson misses all of FP3 due to a technical issue. Once qualifying begins, he struggles to find grip and finishes in a disappointing 18th place, getting eliminated in Q1, while Verstappen secures third position.
“After missing FP3, we knew the start of qualifying would be difficult, as we lost a lot of preparation with the soft tires compared to the others,” Lawson explains after Q1. “Obviously, going off track on the second lap kind of threw everything off. The final lap was good until the last sector; we were about half a second faster and should have continued to improve, but I had a significant drop in tire performance and made a mistake. That’s the main reason we’re out; it was stupid on my part.” .
“I’d love for some rain to come and shake things up in our favor,” he added. On Sunday, the rain does arrive, but the story remains the same. Trying to make up positions, Lawson climbs up to 14th place before his tires start to degrade, causing him to lose valuable pace.
As the rain intensifies again towards the end of the race, he is among the drivers trying to stay out, hoping the track will dry quickly. However, that doesn’t happen, and the number 30 Red Bull car spins and ends his race early, crashing into the barriers.
“It was a terrible weekend. Today we were too slow at the start, and then we took some risks. It almost worked out, but in the end, it didn’t. In the first stint with the intermediates, we really didn’t have the pace and had too many issues with the front end. With the slicks, we were competitive for a couple of laps, but then it started raining again. At that point, I stopped pushing because it was too wet, and I was just trying to stay on track.” .
Tires are a common issue for both Red Bull drivers. However, Verstappen manages to “drive over” the problem and achieve excellent results. The same cannot be said for Lawson: hired to improve Sergio Perez’s performance, he is replicating the former Mexican driver’s results. The car may not be the best on the grid, and the Hastings-born driver is in his first full season, but Verstappen has always stayed in the top 3 with what, at worst, seems to be the third-best car on the grid.
The rookie excuse only holds up to a certain point: another debutant, Kimi Antonelli, started 16th but finished in fourth place, showing that with a good car, positions can be regained. Was Lawson’s promotion too premature? Has Red Bull not learned from the mistakes made with Gasly and Albon? These questions will only find a clear answer as the season progresses.
“Liam hasn’t had luck on his side, but he’s a strong driver,” commented team principal Christian Horner on Sunday. One race doesn’t make a spring, but if we look at Tsunoda’s results with a much less competitive Racing Bulls car (fifth in qualifying and 11th in the race, ahead of Lawson for the seventh consecutive weekend and a Red Bull in 4 of the last 6), it’s not hard to imagine that the right choice might have been a different one.
Photo: Oracle Red Bull Racing
