Liam Lawson of Red Bull Racing. 2025. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Liam Lawson admits he struggled in the opening Formula One round in Australia and in the end that was an understatement.
The young Kiwi was never settled in Melbourne with car problems during practice and qualifying, while a wet race ended any prospect of him being able to salvage much.
The race was chaotic with cars spinning off the track and teams gambling on tyre changes to match the ever changing conditions.
Lawson crashed out with 10 laps remaining, one of six drivers who succumbed to the treacherous conditions at Albert Park.
The issues weren't all with the 23 year old, the lack of speed his Red Bull car showed in pre-season testing continued in Australia.
Lawson and his RB21 were never in synch. The team was forced to make numerous modifications and a change to his rear wing meant he had to start the race from pit lane.
The modification didn't work and he ended up driving one of the slowest cars on the track.
Lawson spent most of his time in 15th and 16th place thanks to early retirements, and was unable to make up places during the race and then when the rain started to fall again late on Lawson's crew decided to leave him out in the hope of picking up a few places before having to pit.
The pit to change from slicks to intermediate tyres like the rest of the field never happen as he spun off the track
Had he managed to finish the race then he could have regarded his weekend as okay, unfortunately that wasn't the case.
"We took a chance, hoping that at least half of the track would stay dry," he said to F1.
"We knew that sector three was bad, but we thought that sector one would stay a bit drier, so we carried on. Unfortunately, it was bucketing down with rain.
"At that point, to be honest, I'd backed out of pushing because it was so wet. I was just trying to stay on the track. But obviously, it's not ideal."
Liam Lawson of Red Bull Racing crashes during the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, 2025. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
He was one of four 'rookies' that failed to finish, but the wet track also claimed two of the competition's most experienced drivers Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, while local hero Oscar Piastri spun off while challenging for the lead.
The critics will be quick to criticise Red Bulls decision to replace Sergio Perez with Lawson, while the more experienced Yuki Tsunoda stayed with sister team Racing Bull.
A career in Formula 1 can be short and many would have expected Lawson to be in the points straight away despite team principal Christian Horner affording him some time to settle in.
"Yeah, we were really struggling to be honest. I had a lot of tyre issues with the front early on in the race, so it's just been a tough weekend."
The heat is on Lawson to now show something in Shanghai next weekend.
As the number two driver he needs to support Max Verstappen and pick up as many points as possible for the team.
Verstappen showed that Red Bull still have a competitive car, Lawson needs to show he's competitive also.
Unfortunately Lawson now faces a sprint format in China and lack of experience at the circuit.
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