The 2025 F1 Australian GP was one to forget for Liam Lawson. In his first race weekend for Red Bull, he was unable to get out of Q1 and started 18th at the Australian Grand Prix, then struggled for pace on race day before hitting the wall as the late rain came down with 11 laps remaining.
He had moved into the points briefly on slicks but the rain was too much down at turn 1 and he crashed on exit, very similar to Isack Hadjar.
Lawson, Red Bull planned for more rain in F1 Australian GP
Red Bull Racing made set-up changes to the New Zealander’s car before the race to try and help him with the conditions. He started from pit lane.
Lawson said the team was “hoping for a sort of majority wet race” in Australia, but “it basically dried up probably more than we thought.”
Running on intermediates for the first 34 laps, “we struggled a lot with the fronts in the first stint, just overheating and then, yeah, towards the end it dried up, we went to a slick.”
…then got caught off when the rain actually came
Lawson came in with the rest of the field during the safety car period after Fernando Alonso’s crash, but the track would only be dry and green for a couple laps, and on lap 47 he lost the car at turn 2.
“Honestly the pace on the slick was okay for those few laps, but in the end it started raining more than we thought. We thought initially that it was just going to be sector 3 and that we could survive half the track, but it just rained everywhere and then I couldn’t keep it on track.”
New wing = no help: “we struggled generally”
Lawson’s struggles were meant to be helped by a rear wing change between qualifying and the race, but conceded that with the overheating tyres “we probably didn’t have enough front wing in the car for the first run, for the first stint. But at the same time, we struggled generally for pace, so it’s something we’ll reflect on.”
Onward to China for Lawson and Red Bull
Lawson and Red Bull must reflect, reset, and rebound quickly for Shanghai this coming weekend. “I’m just looking forward to going to China and resetting. Yeah, it’s good, but obviously we want to be racing at the front, so it’s not something I’ll feel too good about.”
