The Liam Lawson case
Two different outcomes for Racing Bulls at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where there were also some controversies regarding a decision made by the Stewards concerning Liam Lawson, which raised many questions. The New Zealander, again outside the points zone, made a legal overtaking move on Jack Doohan despite running a bit wide at Turn 1, without cutting the corner and trying to keep his car on track.
Excessive severity
Despite this, the Race Direction handed a 10-second penalty to the former Red Bull driver, five more than the penalty given to Max Verstappen for his maneuver at the first lap, when the Dutchman didn’t give back the position to Oscar Piastri after completely cutting the corner. Without this penalty, Liam Lawson could have finished at least in 11th place, also aiming for a possible attack on his teammate towards the end: “It was tough, and although we had a good pace throughout the race, we spent most of the time in traffic, whatever we did – said the New Zealander after the race – the penalty obviously didn’t help us and it’s a shame because this weekend was the most comfortable for me in the car. We’re doing all the right things, but now we need to make sure everything goes well to get some points. Isack made the most of his first clean stint, and it’s great for the team to score another point this weekend. Right now, the midfield is very close, and we’ll try to improve the situation for Miami. It’s a track I’ve never driven on but I’m excited. We’ll keep pushing.”
Other points
For Isack Hadjar, on the other hand, the race in Jeddah ended in the points zone. Finishing in 10th position under the checkered flag, it was his second top-10 finish after the 8th place in Japan: “It was a solid race, and I’m very happy – he explained – this time we had a good start, the strategy was good, and that was the goal. We adopted an alternative strategy to stretch the stint, and that’s what we did. I didn’t think points were possible, but we had good pace, and we made it. The two Williams were ahead of me after the pit stop and then played the team game, Alex didn’t make any mistakes, and if they weren’t teammates, we could have finished in P8. It was definitely tough, and I struggled, even though we made some mistakes, it was a well-managed race, and it’s the kind of race I want to have. We will investigate why our qualifying pace wasn’t strong. Miami will be interesting because it’s a sprint weekend, with only one session before the sprint qualifying. I believe we can make it.”
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