Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies was encouraged by what he saw from Liam Lawson in his second race since returning to the team last weekend.
On the face of it, the former Red Bull driver suffered a difficult weekend. Lawson failed to progress from Q1 when his DRS closed after he backed off to reduce wheelspin on his final lap. He finished the race 16th after picking up two penalties for collisions with rivals.However Mekies said Lawson, who finished ahead of team mate Isack Hadjar before his penalties were applied, made clear progress last weekend.
“It may not have showed on the time sheet, but he made a very significant step forward compared to Japan,” said Mekies. “The pace is there, building up step by step.”
Although Lawson came away point-less from Sunday’s race, his pace during the grand prix was encouraging. He got ahead of Hadjar at the start, despite starting on harder tyres than his team mate, then rose to ninth place before pitting.
After running his middle stint on hard tyres Lawson switched to a set of softs when the Safety Car was deployed. He got ahead of Hadjar again after the Safety Car period, then passed Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz Jnr’s damaged Williams and Jack Doohan to finish 13th on the road. He picked up penalties for making contact during his passes on Hulkenberg and Doohan.
Mekies expects to see Lawson “piece it all together” at this weekend’s race in Jeddah. Lawson has previously raced at the track in Formula 2.
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Lawson said he “had good speed but just couldn’t really use it” in Bahrain. “The only way I could overtake was lunging quite late. I wasn’t intentionally touching others, but obviously the stewards made their decision with the penalties, so we’ll have to review the incidents.
“It’s a shame we don’t have the results to show us pushing forwards as a team, as the car was really fast in qualifying and we didn’t get to show it. The car was also fast in the race, but there’s obviously only so much you can do starting from the back. It was just a race that just didn’t quite come together.”
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2025 Bahrain Grand Prix
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- Lawson made “very significant step forward” in Bahrain – Mekies
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MacLeod (@macleod)
17th April 2025, 7:38
Strange I didn’t got the feeling they (or Lawson) went very well. But they should focus on Stratic decisions as that is the real weak part of Rcarbs.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
17th April 2025, 9:15
Liam’s next problem is that Hadjar is quietly doing a decent enough job (Australia formation lap aside). I wasn’t expecting much from him to be honest, I felt a little like Perez’s performances helped get him into F1, happy to be proved wrong.
I hope for Liam’s sake they at least give him until the end of the season. His F1 career so far has been a staccato-stop-start-substitute-sacked affair. I don’t think he’s even done 5 races in the same car, and even then it was only because Dani Ric had a broken hand.
Jere (@jerejj)
17th April 2025, 10:33
Maybe, but that’s irrelevant if he keeps on getting out-performed by Hadjar on merit.
Coventry Climax
17th April 2025, 12:07
And that’s where the definition of ‘merit’ comes in.
He finished ahead of Hadjar on track, but the penalty points threw him back.
I think it’s understandable that when you’re in a faster car, but the track offers no options to overtake, you’re willing to take risks, especially when you’re a rookie and in Lawson’s situation of having to prove yourself while dealing with a ‘Marko induced’ mental setback.
I think that’s what Mekies is referring to as well.
I have no idea what will happen over the (rest of the) season, but at least let’s give the guy a fair chance.
An Sionnach
17th April 2025, 14:21
It would be good to see him get a full season not just this year, but the next one, too. That should give him plenty of time.
SteveP
17th April 2025, 18:21
Certainly they should, after all, they gave MV four seasons to stop crashing into barriers and other cars.
Dex
18th April 2025, 2:58
Kinda poor attempt…
Jim Lahey trailer park supervisor
18th April 2025, 0:01
I feel like if Lawson can get his qualifying down he’ll consistently be in the points and these mistakes that he is making is because he’s putting himself under pressure because of poor qualifying will disappear. The guys got what it takes he just needs to piece it all together. Only time will tell.