Liam Lawson collected penalty points for collisions with two of his rivals during the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Racing Bulls driver picked up his first penalty for making slight contact with Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin at turn two.The stewards noted that “car 30 [Lawson] overtook car 18 [Stroll] in turn one, however lost momentum by missing the apex, then car 18, having taken a better exit, was in front at the entry to turn two and was entitled to racing room at that corner.
“However car 30 collided with the rear axle of car 18, causing a collision and forcing car 18 to compromise the exit of the corner.”
The stewards took into consideration how slight the impact was. “As there was only minor contact this was considered in mitigation and hence a five-second penalty was imposed.”
But they ruled a stiffer, 10-second time penalty was deserved for Lawson’s later tangle with Nico Hulkenberg at turn one.
“At the approach to turn one, car 30 attempted to overtake car 27 [Hulkenberg] on the inside,” they explained. “However [it] missed the apex of the corner, hence was unable to take a normal racing line and consequently collided with the side of car 27.”
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The stewards gave Lawson one penalty point for the Stroll incident and two for the one with Hulkenberg, putting him on a total of five for the current 12-month period.
Lawson said neither of the incidents was deliberate. “We had good speed but just couldn’t really use it and the only way I could overtake was lunging quite late,” he said. “I wasn’t intentionally touching others, but obviously the stewards made their decision with the penalties, so we’ll have to review the incidents.”
Liam Lawson’s penalty points
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 30 caused a collision with Car 77 in turn 1.’ | 2 |
| 13/4/2025 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 30 collided with Car 18 in turn 2.’ | 1 |
| 13/4/2025 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 30 collided with car 27 in turn 1.’ | 2 |
Penalty box
What did you think of Lawson’s penalties? Cast your votes below and have your say in the comments.
Lawson's penalty for his incident with Stroll is...
- No opinion (9%)
- Far too lenient (0%)
- Slightly too lenient (9%)
- Correct (36%)
- Slightly too harsh (18%)
- Far too harsh (27%)
Total Voters: 11
Loading ...Lawson's penalty for his incident with Hulkenberg is...
- No opinion (8%)
- Far too lenient (0%)
- Slightly too lenient (8%)
- Correct (25%)
- Slightly too harsh (33%)
- Far too harsh (25%)
Total Voters: 12
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Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
13th April 2025, 21:15
That picture has to be one of the worst Photoshops I have ever seen.
Is it also a comment on Liam’s true abilities as an F1 driver?
Jere (@jerejj)
14th April 2025, 6:23
Photoshop how?
Jack
13th April 2025, 21:16
Absolutely mind boggling that Lawson got time penalties and penalty points yet Yuki got away with hitting cars, causing the safety car and causing Sainz to retire.
David B
13th April 2025, 21:29
Completely agree.
MichaelN
13th April 2025, 21:38
Tsunoda is now experiencing ‘big team advantage’. The stewards are much more willing to penalize the small fish.
And while Tsunoda did bungle his tussle with Sainz, he can’t be blamed for the safety car, that was Rui Marques’ call.
anon
13th April 2025, 22:33
Jack, that said, Sainz said after the race that, whilst Tsunoda did lose control of the car and collided with him, he also thought that it was “kind of a racing incident” after he had watched the onboard video footage back.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th April 2025, 6:23
anon A valid point, but I still side with Jack in the end due to a somewhat double standard treatment.
Chaitanya
14th April 2025, 6:02
Similarly in MotoGP yesterday Alex Marquez got penalty for irresponsible riding but Fabio di Giannantoniodidn’t get a penalty for pulling essentially same overtaking move on fellow rider. That inconsistent stewarding is common across all the motorsports.
Laz
14th April 2025, 7:41
I would suggest it’s because the contact with Sainz wasn’t exclusively Tsunoda’s fault, that he had a slide under power automatically makes people point to him being at fault, but if you take time to study what happened there’s more going on. Sainz came from a long way back to make that pass. Had Tsunoda turned in Sainz would have been crashing into the side of him and been the completely at fault. Tsunoda had to avoid contact, waiting to be able to turn in. He put on to much power trying to get traction initiating the slide, which was his part in the collision, however Sainz veering back across towards Tsunoda also played his part in the contact. It was Tsunoda who took avoiding action again, jinking further away to try and stop it. Sainz did nothing.
A penalty is given if one driver is wholly to blame. Sainz played a large part in that collision between the lunge and the cut back across track. Where Lawson well he just drove into the side of other drivers. He was exclusively at fault.
Emr
14th April 2025, 14:21
Well said. Lawson at 5 penalty points says alot
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
14th April 2025, 0:23
Absurd penalties.
Handing out penalties or penalty points for insignificant bits of contact where no harm was done just feels like it goes completely against the spirit of allowing and encouraging hard racing where drivers feel able to have a go and try to overtake without relying on nothing but easy DRS drive-by’s.
If somebody comes flying up the inside wheels locked & just drives into the side of somebody in a move which is completely boneheaded and/or dangerous and takes the other car out of the race then fair enough but for minor bits of contact it just feels completely ludicrous to me that it even gets investigated.
Just highlights how far the sport has fallen in the show over sport era.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th April 2025, 6:22
I couldn’t agree more, especially when Yuki didn’t receive any sanction for a comparatively worse contact.
Emr
14th April 2025, 14:22
Your anti-Yuki tirade is getting tiresome
Dale
14th April 2025, 1:34
His whole career has been all about the number of cars he’s hit and drivers who’s races he’s destroyed … which is why he’s never stuck around in any championship for very long.
He’s over-rated and not F1 material.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th April 2025, 6:21
I voted far too harsh & ‘slightly too harsh, respectively, because the contacts were relatively minor in the end, so penalizing him for them was unnecessarily excessive, considering the general approach.
Emr
14th April 2025, 14:23
Losing control and colliding into another competitor is something Lawson has done since last year. How is this any different