Liam Lawson had the second-longest losing streak of any driver in qualifying heading into the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
He put that to an end by out-qualifying Isack Hadjar and claiming his best starting position of the season so far.
Change from practice to qualifying
Red Bull was the second-fastest team in second practice yesterday, two tenths of a second behind McLaren. That gap was much wider in final practice, where the track conditions were much hotter, but they were back in the hunt as soon as qualifying began.
Gaps between team mates
Lando Norris’s crash in qualifying opened the door for Max Verstappen to beat the McLaren pair to pole position. Oscar Piastri will start second, but Norris had been quicker than him in Q2, the last phase of qualifying where both set times.
As at the previous race, Yuki Tsunoda was further off his team mate than any other driver. Although he reached Q3, he was the best part of a second slower than his pole-winning team mate.
Team mate battles sequences
After 10 consecutive races of being out-qualified by his team mate – whether it was Tsunoda, Verstappen or Isack Hadjar – Lawson finally came out ahead today. Lance Stroll remains the driver with the longest losing streak of anyone in qualifying for grands prix, having been beaten 17 times in a row by Fernando Alonso.
Both Sauber drivers failed to progress beyond Q1 for the third weekend in a row. Gabriel Bortoleto, who missed the crucial second practice session yesterday due to a fuel leak, only reached Q2 at the season-opener.
Out-qualified team mate
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | 17 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | 12 |
| 3 | George Russell | 11 |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | 8 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | 4 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | 3 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 2 |
| = | Oscar Piastri | 2 |
| 9 | Oliver Bearman | 1 |
| = | Liam Lawson | 1 |
Out-qualified by team mate
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Stroll | 17 |
| 2 | Jack Doohan | 6 |
| 3 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 5 |
| 4 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 4 |
| = | Yuki Tsunoda | 4 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | 3 |
| 7 | Alexander Albon | 2 |
| = | Lando Norris | 2 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | 1 |
| = | Esteban Ocon | 1 |
Q1 and Q3
Eliminated in Q1
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 4 |
| 2 | Nico Hulkenberg | 3 |
| = | Lance Stroll | 3 |
| 4 | Esteban Ocon | 1 |
| = | Jack Doohan | 1 |
Reached Q3
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russell | 16 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | 12 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | 9 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | 8 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | 5 |
| = | Charles Leclerc | 5 |
| 7 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 4 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 2 |
| = | Yuki Tsunoda | 2 |
| = | Pierre Gasly | 2 |
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2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- Red Bull made tactical decision not to avoid a penalty in Jeddah, Horner confirms
- Norris’s starts were far poorer than Verstappen’s but the balance is shifting
- McLaren’s rivals “just one upgrade away from being the lead car” – Brown
- Russell told race control what he thought of Verstappen’s first lap corner cut
- Doohan’s final corner pass on Bortoleto was F1’s closest fight for last place in seven years
Chris
19th April 2025, 21:20
It seems you’ve got it in for Liam Lawson for some reason, especially when the only rookie above him in qualifying today is in a Mercedes that had 6 weeks in the car in preseason.
Your headline could very easily be misinterpreted that Liam has lost to his team mate in the last 10 races (intentionally i expect) but he beat Tsunoda last season twice in the most important result – the race! That is afyer being thrown into the last six races of the season and Tsunoda had been racing all year and the previous year. Liam was then put into the RB2 that is designed for Max’s driving style in pouring rain in Australia and a shortened practice session in China due to the sprint. So that’s 8 races and of the last three races it is 2:1 to Hadjar with Hadjar in the car for the last 4 races. Give the guy a break mate.
David Searle (@searlo)
20th April 2025, 1:15
Yeah agreed. Plus it’s disregarding Sprint Qualifying. Lawson was P10 in Qatar spring qualifying to Tsunoda’s 17th.
Gerrit
20th April 2025, 2:00
Another mystery to me is the strategic calls made by Racing Bulls. Spend one practice session in the pits for 30 minutes changing both car rear wings. Half a practice session wasted. Surely could have left one car out there, change one wing and bring the other in whilst the first is back out there gaining track time. And leaving both Hadjar and Lawson in the pits during qualifying. The rest of the field is out there setting times and the Racing Bulls are in the pits. When they finally release them they, join a long line of cars getting ready for the second run and send Lawson into the pit lane scramble to nearly get an unsafe release penalty. If the strategy was to release both cars during the rest of the field first and second qualifying stint lull, they messed that up completely. Back in Q1, they bought Lawson into, without setting a time, pit lane for a practice start. Why? Who the heck is calling strategy at Racing Bulls?