In Depth: The First Half of Liam Lawson’s 2025 Season

Although Liam Lawson made his debut in Formula 1 in 2024, 2025 marked his first full season on the grid - but what did this entail for the young Kiwi?

(Image credits to @liamlawson30 on Instagram)

Pre-season testing

On the 26th of February, the first day of pre-season testing took place. The morning session was disrupted by multiple red flags due to power cuts. With 50 minutes left of the session, all cars were finally able to take to the track. Following this, it was confirmed that the session would be extended by one hour to make up for the time lost as a result of the red flag. Lawson drove his Red Bull into eighth place, with a lap time of 1:31.560 after completing 58 laps, 1.13 seconds behind McLaren driver Lando Norris, who went the quickest.

On the second day of pre-season testing, Hamilton set the pace in the morning. In the afternoon, while most teams swapped out their drivers, Red Bull and Williams made the strategic decision to keep the same driver behind the wheel, meaning Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz both benefited from more time out on track. The day went much smoother with only 1 red flag due to a broken drain cover at turn 11, dislodged by Leclerc, and then ran over by Hamilton. Lawson finished the day in P7 with a best lap time of 1:30.252 after completing 91 laps, 0.904 seconds behind Sainz who went the quickest.

On the final day of testing, Red Bull and Williams - once again - made the decision to not swap out their drivers. As a result, Verstappen and Albon drove in both sessions. Russell set the fastest time of the day of 1:29.545, followed closely by Verstappen who was 0.021 seconds behind. Lawson didn't qualify on the timesheet that day due to not completing any laps. 

Overall, testing looked to be positive for Lawson, finishing in the top ten on both days he completed laps.

Red Bull Days

The 2025 season began in Melbourne at Albert Park. During qualifying, Lawson faced trouble after heading into gravel, causing a yellow flag. He ultimately qualified in P18 after exiting early following a power unit issue in the third Free Practice session. The race didn’t go much better; Lawson started from the pit lane due to setup changes. On lap 44, the track was hit with rain, causing Piastri to spin, losing second place. Two laps later, Lawson spun into the barriers (after being caught out on medium tyres), bringing his Red Bull debut to a premature end. 

China was next, and featured the first sprint race of the season. With only one Free Practice session available, Sprint Qualifying was fast approaching. A painful SQ1 for Lawson saw his final lap time deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving the Red Bull driver starting last on the grid. During the Sprint Race, Lawson ended up going wheel-to-wheel with Jack Doohan in the Alpine, battling for P18, with the Kiwi trying to make up places following the disappointment of Friday's Qualifying. Once past Doohan, Lawson quickly set after Carlos Sainz, who pitted onto a fresh set of mediums, dropping him into the back of the pack. After 19 laps of hard racing and overtakes, Lawson crossed the line in P14. 

Qualifying didn’t go as well, with Lawson qualifying P20, once again, clearly struggling to get to grips with the car, whilst his teammate Max Verstappen secured P4. Lawson finished the race in P15 after managing to overtake Doohan, both Kick Saubers and Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda, who pitted multiple times due to wing damage. However, after review, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and both Ferraris, Hamilton and Leclerc, were disqualified, promoting Lawson to P12. This was the last race at Red Bull for the young driver as he was then replaced by Yuki Tsunoda only two races into the season.

Racing Bulls

In the third race of the season, and in Lawson’s Racing Bulls debut, he out-performed Tsunoda in Qualifying, for the first time in the season. He qualified P14, one place ahead of Tsunoda in P15. He took the chequered flag in P17, losing a few places over the Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Tsunoda finished in P12 after overtaking Lawson on the first lap of the race. Lawson (alongside Carlos Sainz) started the race on soft tires, with both drivers going for long stints and hoping to benefit from an alternative - and risky - strategy. However, this wasn't the case as neither driver went on to score points. Meanwhile Lawson's teammate at Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar, went on to score his first points of the season.

The next race of the season marked a return to Bahrain. In the first Free Practice session of the weekend, Lawson placed eighth despite experiencing “shocking” balance in his Racing Bull. During Qualifying, he experienced some DRS problems, meaning he was unable to put in his best performance. This left him with an early exit in Q1, starting P17 for the main race. In the race itself, Lawson continued to struggle, receiving a 5 second time penalty for causing a collision with Stroll, followed by a 10 second time penalty for causing a collision with Hulkenberg. This meant he crossed the line in P17 after serving the penalties during pit stops, which was then adjusted to P16 due to Hulkenberg being disqualified.

At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Lawson secured his best qualifying position yet. As the time for Q1 was counting down, he found himself in the elimination zone, at risk of an early exit, however, after an excellent lap, he put himself out of the zone. He did manage to put in some good laps, however he began to slip down the order ending Q2 in P12. During Q1, Lawson was noted for an unsafe release in the pitlane however nothing came of it. In Sunday’s race, Lawson was handed a ten-second time penalty in Lap 38 for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in an incident with Alpine’s Jack Doohan, which saw him drop to P12 ahead of both Haas drivers. Lawson was still left searching for his debut points, as his teammate Hadjar picked up another point.

Miami brought the second Sprint Race weekend of the year, however, it also marked yet another race weekend without points for the Kiwi. During Sprint Qualifying, Doohan claimed that Lawson was unsafely released into his path but nothing came of this as Lawson got safely through into SQ2, although his luck didn’t last long as he was eliminated, qualifying P14. Rookie driver Kimi Antonelli went on to score the first pole position of his career. During the race, Lawson made gains, benefiting from the sudden torrential rain which hit the Miami International Autodrome. He picked up a five-second time penalty for causing a collision which ultimately ended Fernando Alonso’s race, and left him finishing in P13. Later that day, Qualifying offered little improvement, with Lawson barely scraping through into Q2, by only 0.029s. He then finished Q2 in P15. The next day saw a continuation of poor performance, as whilst in a battle with Doohan, who picked up a puncture, Lawson received damage to his Racing Bull which caused him to retire. This incident went to Race Control who ultimately decided no further action was required. This was not the way the young driver from New Zealand would have wanted the first quarter of the season to go.

Imola kicked off the first of the European races, with Lawson qualifying P16, being unable to put together a quick enough lap, just behind Franco Colapinto, who replaced Doohan at Alpine. The Racing Bulls car crossed the finish line in P14 after making up two places over the course of the race due to a good strategy call, however was - yet again - unable to take home any points. His teammate Hadjar gained another 2 points for the team whilst Tsunoda managed to score a point, finishing in P10 following a dramatic crash in Saturday's Qualifying.

The second race of the European triple header was held in Monaco. With uneventful Free Practices for Lawson, which saw him putting his Racing Bull car into P5 in FP2 and P7 in FP3; it was all eyes on Qualifying. After successfully getting through both Q1 and Q2, Lawson was through to Q3 for the first time this season, securing his first top 10 start. By the end of Q3, Lawson was in P9 whilst Norris went on to break the lap record in Monte Carlo. 

Good race strategy was utilised by RB, as Lawson began to hold up the cars behind him, allowing his teammate to pit twice and still come out in the top 10. Soon after, Sainz attempted to replicate the same strategy to allow his teammate, Alex Albon, to come into the pits. This move opened up gaps for those in front to be able to pit, including Lawson. By the end of the 78 laps, Lawson was in P8, securing his first four points for the team. The weekend saw RB score double points, crucial for the Constructor’s Championship. 

The next race was held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. In Q1, Lawson got himself into the top 10, marking a good start to his Qualifying session, whilst Tsunoda qualified P20. By the end of Q2, Lawson was left in P13, unable to improve upon his previous efforts. Lawson narrowly missed out on points after an eventful race. After making contact with Albon, which resulted in front wing damage being inflicted on the Williams, the Thai driver received a ten-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, and later retired from the race. On lap 29, Lawson ended up in another tense battle, this time with Ollie Bearnman, where he tried (and failed) to divebomb the Haas driver. The incident was soon under investigation by the stewards for causing a collision, however no further action was taken in the end. Lawson crossed the finish line in P11, narrowly missing out on points once again. 

This first half of the season may have not gone exactly how Lawson would have wanted, but there were still some positive takeaways. He scored his first points with RB and showed great consistency. The rest of the season saw him pick up even better results, as he ended the 2025 season with 38 points, leaving RB 14th in the Constructors’ Championship. He also secured multiple top 10 finishes including his personal best P5.

Article written by Skyla Crook