Liam Lawson managed to put everything together this Saturday. While the New Zealander was unhappy about his qualifying performance on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend, it’s his best result to date this 2025 Formula 1 season as he finished 12th on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
With a time of 1m 28.191s in Q2, the Racing Bulls driver missed out on Q3 by a hair of a margin. But he should take plenty of confidence to the track tomorrow as team-mate Isack Hadjar, who has had a stunning start to the season, starts for the first time behind Lawson in 14th.
“It’s a shame to be so close to Q3, you know?” Lawson told Motorsport.com and other media post-qualifying. “It’s so close in the midfield, like tiny margins make a difference.”
His performance places him directly behind Alex Albon, who also struggled in his Williams machinery.
When asked about his comfort levels in the VCARB 02, Lawson admits he’s rising to the challenge after his early demotion from Red Bull earlier this season.
“Every day it’s getting more comfortable,” Lawson explained. “I think this track forces it out of you a little bit, just because of how fast and how high commitment it is. So yeah, I feel comfortable.”
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Peter Fox – Getty Images
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit presents a challenging and dangerous race for the 20 drivers, with limited run off and high speed corners demanding incredible levels of concentration and commitment.
“This is the type of track where putting it up against the wall can make all the difference,” he said. “And honestly, I think commitment-wise, it’s the best stuff I’ve done all weekend by far.”
The first sector, where McLaren’s Lando Norris crashed in his own qualifying run, is a weakness for the Racing Bulls package. With the interview taking place when the papaya driver hit the wall, Lawson admitted that this was an area he needs to improve on.
“Unfortunately, our weak part of the track is probably a little bit through sector one,” he admitted. “That’s what we’ll be chasing tomorrow and going forward.
“It’s hard, honestly. It’s really hard to say,” Lawson said when asked about his expectations for race day. “Long run-wise, we didn’t really do too much of it. This weekend has been very, I guess, probably focused—it’s just the way the sessions went.”
He continued:
“I think if you have a pace advantage, there’s good overtaking here. It’s just whether we’re gonna have that pace advantage or not.”
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