Liam Lawson is still yet to score a single point in the 2025 F1 season, but Isack Hadjar has ‘definitely’ noticed a change since the Kiwi became his teammate at Racing Bulls.
The 23-year-old initially started the season with Red Bull after Lawson stepped up from their sister team, then called Visa Cash App RB, to replace Sergio Perez. Yet the swap did not pay off, so Red Bull switched Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda at Racing Bulls after the first two rounds.
Red Bull grew frustrated with Lawson’s lack of progress adapting to the tricky RB21 and that he could not find a reason for why he struggled so much. Even the New Zealander returning to Faenza did not immediately yield form, despite Racing Bulls having an easier car to drive.
Liam Lawson’s ‘really, really fast’ pace at the Saudi Arabian GP impressed Isack Hadjar
But Hadjar saw a lot of promise from Lawson’s performance at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last week. The 20-year-old also thinks the Hastings native put him under the same pressure as Tsunoda had in their two events as teammates to start Hadjar’s rookie F1 season this year.
Lawson out-qualified Hadjar for the first time in Jeddah, as the Racing Bulls duo secured P12 and P14 on the Saudi Arabian GP grid separated by 0.227 seconds. The Frenchman was only 0.010s slower in Q1 but the Kiwi found more pace in Q2, and he showed promise in the race.
READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know
Differences in their strategies saw Lawson spend more of the Saudi Arabian GP stuck behind traffic than Hadjar would. Still, he finished the race 1.360s behind Hadjar in P10 – yet he fell to P12 after Lawson drew a 10-second penalty for leaving the track overtaking Jack Doohan.
“He was really, really fast this weekend,” Hadjar said, via Motorsport-Total. “He got the most out of the car in qualifying. He’s definitely getting stronger and is challenging me now in the same way Yuki used to.”
Traffic and a slightly harsh 10s penalty likely cost Liam Lawson points in the Saudi Arabian GP
Lawson had completed his overtake on Alpine driver Doohan with the help of DRS on the pit straight, but the Racing Bulls star carried too much speed into Turn 1 and only just exceeded track limits. So, the stewards gave Lawson a 10s penalty that dropped him from P11 to P12.
It was the only real blemish on the Kiwi’s weekend as Lawson tries to show Red Bull that he deserves a promotion again in the future. His pace when not running in traffic was solid and allowed Lawson to catch up with Hadjar whilst his rookie partner followed the Williams duo.
READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls 2025 F1 driver Isack Hadjar? Everything you need to know
Lawson started the Saudi Arabian GP directly in front of Hadjar but got a worse launch, even though the Kiwi chose to begin the race on the medium Pirelli tyres whereas the Frenchman opted for hards. They would then sit in P12 and P11 once Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly crashed.
Hadjar would also make his way past Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso much easier than Lawson, who had to fight his way back through traffic after stopping for mediums on Lap 20. He was ultimately almost six seconds from the Parisian once Hadjar made a pit stop on L34.
