Liam Lawson after qualifying in Australia: « bad driving and stupid behaviour »
Liam Lawson missed out on qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix due to a driving error, leaving him 18th on the grid. After a difficult Friday, the young Red Bull driver apologized for his mistakes and is preparing to drive even harder.
The Australian Grand Prix got off to a bad start for Liam Lawson. The Red Bull driver, hoping for a strong performance to kick off the 2025 season, was eliminated in the first round of qualifying (Q1). With a disappointing lap time, Lawson found himself 18th on the starting grid. The reason? A series of mistakes on the track, which he describes as « stupid », leaving him far from the qualifying spots.
Liam Lawson admitted to making a strategic error during his last lap of the session. We overheated the tires at the end of the lap, he explains to the media. Honestly, it wasn’t bad and the lap we did was perfect. I just went too fast [in turn 10], and I think it heated up the tires and the last sector was gone. A misjudgment that ruined his entire session.
The consequences of a difficult Friday
Liam Lawson’s bad day started right from the free practice sessions. After a turbo problem that prevented him from taking part in the third free practice session, the driver found himself in an already tricky situation for qualifying. “It was quite costly not to do a lot of qualifying preparation for the day,” he admits.
The qualifications thus turned into a real catch-up challenge for the young New Zealander, who couldn’t make up for the lost time on the track. As a result, he found himself struggling to stay in the top 15, without managing to climb higher in the rankings.
Far from blaming his Red Bull, Lawson was clear: I don’t think it’s specific to the car, it’s not like this car is much harder to drive, and that’s why I’m responsible for the mistakes. For him, the real cause of his disappointment is more related to a lack of preparation and mistakes made under pressure. It’s just a difficult track, poor driving, and stupid behavior.
He remained clear-minded and took responsibility for his actions, highlighting a difficult but enriching reality for his development: a Friday full of complications and a mental management to revisit.
A positive reaction despite everything
If the performance of Liam Lawson in qualifying was a disaster, he managed to bounce back with a positive attitude. “I think it would have been good in Q2,” he stated, optimistic. “But we made a big step today, or at least Max did with the car, it was in a window that was positive.”
Despite the mistakes, he remains confident in his team’s potential and acknowledges the progress made, particularly by his teammate Max Verstappen. For Lawson, this mishap will not be seen as a failure but rather as a starting point to bounce back and learn from the mistakes made.
