Liam Lawson qualified last for both races in Shanghai.
If there was any up-side to his tough two days in China, it was that the driver some claim Red Bull should have promoted instead of him was also out-qualified by his team mate – and a much less experienced one at that.Here’s the key data from qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Change from practice to qualifying
As sprint race qualifying showed yesterday, Red Bull lapped far from their potential pace in the sole, one-hour qualifying session. But other teams failed to make as much of an improvement as they should have done between the two sessions.
Those teams, notably McLaren and Sauber, put that right today. McLaren got the pole position they should also have claimed for the sprint race and Nico Hulkenberg was on course to reach the top 10 until the final runs of Q3.
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Gaps between team mates
After three qualifying sessions this year (two grand prix and one sprint race) Lawson has been the furthest behind his team mate in all of them. At half of the teams the drivers were separated by no more than 0.15 seconds, but Lawson was 0.75s off Verstappen.
At least he can point to the fact his benchmark is one of the best in the business and has a decade of experience. Hadjar, in his second grand prix on a track he hasn’t previously raced at, beat his much more experienced team mate Tsunoda.
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Team mate battles sequences
Hadjar ended that today partly thanks to Tsunoda’s mistake at turn 13. However the rookie had been on Tsunoda’s pace up until that point, as yesterday’s data also showed.
Oscar Piastri also out-qualified Lando Norris for the first time in eight races. Lewis Hamilton beat his team mate for the first time in seven grands prix.
Fernando Alonso still has the best run of out-qualifying his team mate for grands prix, though Lance Stroll did beat him in sprint race qualifying this weekend.
| Driver | Consecutive qualifying wins |
|---|---|
| Fernando Alonso | 14 |
| Max Verstappen | 9 |
| George Russell | 8 |
| Pierre Gasly | 5 |
| Alexander Albon | 4 |
| Driver | Consecutive qualifying losses |
|---|---|
| Lance Stroll | 14 |
| Liam Lawson | 10 |
| Jack Doohan | 3 |
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Q3 appearances
The most frequent visitors to Q3 kept their runs up this weekend, including George Russell, who has now reached the final round for 13 grands prix in a row. However despite reaching Q3 on his debut for Williams, Carlos Sainz Jnr’s four-race run ended today.
| Driver | Consecutive Q3 appearances |
|---|---|
| George Russell | 13 |
| Lando Norris | 9 |
| Oscar Piastri | 6 |
| Max Verstappen | 5 |
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2025 Chinese Grand Prix
- Red Bull reassure Verstappen over ‘when we’ll have a winning car again’ in meeting
- Mercedes explain impact of Antonelli’s floor damage on his Chinese GP performance
- “I gave a lot of lap time away in that first stint”: Verstappen’s full Chinese GP radio
- Stats: Chinese Grand Prix saw most disqualifications in an F1 race for 21 years
- Even the best driver on the grid needs a team mate to push them – Norris
Elgsdyr
22nd March 2025, 11:33
Prediction: Hadjar replaces Lawson in the Red Bull before or at the summer break. And is out again at the end of the year.
Dex
22nd March 2025, 12:47
He definitely looked better in junior categories, and now he looks better in F1. That seems probable. But I wouldn’t judge Hadjar too soon (like some did with Lawson). As for Red Bull, last thing they need is to be constantly gambling and rushing their decisions (or delaying for way too long, like with Perez).
I wish both were less irritating characters though… But that is a subjective category.
HAL
22nd March 2025, 18:25
I really don’t understand what there is not to like to a driver that is showing his emotion.. I so hate the corporate BS or the perfect “fully under control” communication – I’ve been overtrained to say things in a certain way.
Becoming a fan of Hadjar quikcly… Yes, he’s been shouting in the radio bit in F2 and so what ? Did that hurt you feelings ? This is sport, emotion, passion, danger… I prefer this 10 times over the perfect 21 old young communicator, only saying what is right. Same for Lawson, who seems a cool dude, playing his guitare decently and not afraid to speak his mind. Djeez.. most of these press conference are sooo boring.
El Pollo Loco
22nd March 2025, 21:33
Lawson is probably the most unlikeable “rookie” driver I can remember. However, I still feel bad for him. Just like I felt bad for Checo.
As Dex notes, there’s no comparison between Hadjar and Lawson in terms of junior formula performance. Hadjar was far, far better.
An Sionnach
22nd March 2025, 12:26
Bring back Pérez!
Roy Beedrill
22nd March 2025, 18:49
I have a better idea: Kvyat.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
22nd March 2025, 12:54
Red Bull have gone through too many drivers, they should be appalled at making themselves a one car team. If Verstappen goes, they could be in a horrific mess that might take them years to recover. Gasly, Albon and Sainz look like upper mid drivers good enough to be a number 2 but theyve alrwady cycled through them. 4th or 5th in the constructors possibly. Especially if they don’t develop like last year.
Jonathan Parkin
22nd March 2025, 13:08
The advantage Tsunoda had was the car suited him at the Abu Dhabi test last year.
That’s what Red Bull need. They need two drivers with similar driving styles. You wouldn’t put Vettel and Verstappen together for the simple reason that Verstappen prefers a stable front end and Vettel was the opposite – and because they’d quite possibly kill each other.
If they had two drivers who BOTH liked a stable front end they would be in a much better position
Jlun
22nd March 2025, 20:24
Front ends are always stable, if you have a weak front end the car just understeers, if you have a weak rear thats where you have an unstable car and lose control I think you meant they prefer a strong front end thats more pointy
Dr.D
23rd March 2025, 10:05
Even tough not technically correct, what you are saying is that they should have gambled on Danny Ric.
And I agree.
It would also balance out the annoying person factor a bit.
It’s like RB doesn’t like likable drivers.
Honda
22nd March 2025, 16:31
Hadjar has raw speed for sure. He has been very impressive but the keeps saying after every quali that may be “I could go more faster”. That is why he mad mistake in SQ2 trying a bit more and he had to abort that lap. Most driver do think they could have got more but there is a fine line between pushing more and keeping it on track.
Overall I compared Yuki and Hadjar quali times, not taking Yuki final run as he aborted it with a mistake at Turn 13. So average of 5 quali laps Yuki was -0.260 faster. Hadjar had one poor lap in Q2 where he was 0.4secs slower. But otherwise he was pretty much on par. Hopefully both RB driver use their brains and team does not screw them with strategy they both can be in top10 tomorrow. Considering Yuki was able to keep Kimi behind for 19laps in SR.
HaL
22nd March 2025, 18:18
Still quite impressive from Hadjar for his 2nd GP… He will be irregular over the season, he will make mistakes. From he’s fast from the get go…
David BR (@david-br)
23rd March 2025, 0:29
Marko to Sky Germany on Lawson’s performance
So the relentless Red Bull churn looks set to continue. Some might say, well, perhaps the solution is to hire better drivers alongside Verstappen?