And while Lawson finished in the same position he started in, there were positives to take away from the trip to Sakhir.
Here’s what we learned in Bahrain:
Beating Hadjar, kind of ...
If you’d have asked Lawson what he needed to do in Bahrain, beating his teammate Isack Hadjar would have been his first answer.
Technically, he did that. Were it not for the two separate penalties – 15 seconds in total – Lawson would have finished 13th. However, you can’t escape the fact that Lawson finished 16th, at a time when he needs results and the points that come with them.
On track, Hadjar lost four places on the opening lap, before Lawson’s strategy ultimately worked better after the safety car and left the Kiwi on course to finish well ahead of his teammate, before penalties were applied.
In a season where six drivers across the grid are yet to complete a full campaign, including both of the Racing Bulls pair, Lawson and Hadjar will be compared against each other – that’s natural.
But in the wider context of their Red Bull futures, Lawson and Hadjar battling each other all season will take on a lot of meaning. With no clarity over the future of either Max Verstappen or Yuki Tsunoda, and a host of other drivers’ contracts expiring, both Lawson and Hadjar have much to gain in 2025.
That’s why it’s so important Lawson takes the chequered flag before his teammate.
And while that didn’t technically happen in Bahrain, the Kiwi’s display showed it won’t be one-way traffic.
Dive(bomb) to survive
With this season being Formula One’s last under these current regulations, change can’t come soon enough.
In short, the 2025 cars are so big that any real threat of overtaking comes from superior pit strategy, rather than superiority on track.
That’s what makes Lawson’s twin penalties so frustrating. Both came as a result of attempted late braking on Nico Hulkenburg’s Sauber and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, and diving into corners, hoping to beat his man accelerating out of the apex.
“To be honest, the only way I could overtake was lunging quite late,” Lawson said post-race. “I wasn’t intentionally touching with others, but it is what it is. Obviously, it’s just a shame.”
Late-brake divebomb overtakes are a staple of any driver. Lawson has shown repeatedly through junior categories, Japan’s Super Formula and even his early forays into Formula One that he can pull them off as good as anyone.
And with his confidence hit by his Red Bull demotion, such aggressive moves highlight that there is still a driver in there ready to take risks to get results.
It’s little comfort, but had Lawson attempted those same moves in 2026 – when new regulations will mean smaller cars – he’d have gotten away with them.
Qualifying fix needed
One out of 15. That’s Liam Lawson’s record in head-to-head Grand Prix qualifying against his teammates in Formula One.
Be it against Yuki Tsunoda, Max Verstappen and now Hadjar, not since Singapore 2023 has the Kiwi started in front of the man he needs to beat most.
And while he’s officially beaten his teammate six times in grands prix, starting further back does more harm than good.
Not helping in Bahrain was a fault with Lawson’s drag reduction system, that caused his rear wing to close, and robbed him of an estimated 0.2s. Ultimately, he lost out in a spot in the second qualifying session by 0.167s.
As already explained, overtaking on track in 2025 is hard. The four races already this season have all been won from pole position.
And while a pole and victory would be a lot to ask of Lawson in a Racing Bulls, the sooner he starts to qualify higher and higher up the grid – as we saw both Hadjar and Tsunoda do before Red Bull’s driver swap – the better.
‘Audacious’ tyre management
When the safety car came out on lap 32 of 58, two drivers made changes that proved telling for their respective races.
Of the 20 drivers, only Lawson and Mercedes’ George Russell fitted a set of soft tyres, which both were able to make last to the end. Over his team radio, Russell described his strategy as “audacious”.
Given the high temperatures of the track in Bahrain, the opening practice session on Friday saw the mercury touch just under 50C, tyre management had been an issue all weekend.
No team or driver was able to ever feel fully comfortable and two-stop strategies became the minimum.
The predicted operating window for a set of softs was just over 10 laps, before degradation kicked in, and left drivers at risk of being overtaken. Lawson, though, managed to make a set of soft tyres last 25 laps.
Without any word of a lie, that is incredible. Both Lawson and Russell deserve huge amounts of credit for even getting to the end of the race.
Unfortunately though, it’ll just be another facet of this race forgotten after those two penalties.
Next up, Saudi Arabia
Jeddah, then, becomes key for Lawson, as the last race of this block of three in three weeks.
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is fast, and at times unforgiving. Since its debut in 2021, Red Bull have won three of four grands prix in Saudi Arabia, showing the kind of car set-up that works best.
Like Bahrain, it boasts three DRS zones. Also like Bahrain, Lawson has a good record there in junior categories.
His first visit there in 2021 saw a second-place finish in the sprint race, while the next season netted a victory. However, he has also been forced to retire on the track, twice out of five races.
If Lawson can qualify well, he has the experience to succeed, especially if Racing Bulls can bring the same pace they did to Bahrain.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.
