Liam Lawson saw his revival meet an end at the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix, as Racing Bulls retired the New Zealander to protect his new engine because of a cooling issue.
The 23-year-old endured another weekend that he will want to forget in the 2025 F1 season in Montreal. Lawson had started to finally find some form in the two rounds before, with his first points this year with P8 in the Monaco Grand Prix while finishing the Spanish GP in P11.
His second points-paying result of 2025 would not be on the cards in Sunday’s Canadian GP, though, as Racing Bulls opted to start Lawson from the pit lane. The Faenza squad pulled the Kiwi’s VCARB 02 from parc fermé to change his power unit as Lawson had only qualified P19.
Lawson’s new engine did not help his cause, though, as the Racing Bulls racer only inherited P18 in the Canadian GP after Aston Martin ace Lance Stroll served a 10-second penalty. The ‘cherry on top’, as his race engineer put it, then came to retire on Lap 56 to save the engine.
Liam Lawson proved the ‘hard fact’ that Racing Bulls’ car was not quick enough in Canada
Lawson’s teammate Isack Hadjar also had a race to forget at the Canadian GP. The 20-year-old could only finish P16, having fallen from P12 on the grid due to a three-place penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz during Q1. It ends Hadjar’s run of three points-paying results in a row.
READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know
Team principal Laurent Mekies cut a downbeat figure after the Canadian GP, as Hadjar’s slip and Lawson’s struggles showed Racing Bulls’ car was not quick enough to compete for a top 10 result. Lawson’s ‘difficult’ qualifying even helped to suggest their hopes were misplaced.
Mekies said, via Auto Action: “We arrived in Montreal with good expectations after three very strong weekends in Europe. However, we knew how tough this circuit is and how intense the battle in the midfield would be.
“Everything started to become a bit more difficult today with Isack starting in P12 and Liam from the pit lane, as we took the opportunity to introduce a new PU on his car after a difficult result in qualifying.
“The hard fact is that we didn’t have enough pace today to fight in the top 10. Isack suffered high graining on his tyres during the first stint on the mediums and, sadly, we had to retire Liam’s car due to an issue in the cooling system.
“It’s a tight battle in the midfield and even only one-tenth can make the difference. And today it was enough to drop back instead of attacking forward.”
Liam Lawson did not need his Canadian GP struggles as he fights to save his Racing Bulls seat
Having to retire from the Canadian GP to protect his engine after Racing Bulls fitted a fresh power unit in Lawson’s car after qualifying would have been among the last things that the Kiwi wanted on Sunday. Yet it was just an early end to what was a disappointing Grand Prix.
Only Stroll was behind Lawson when he retired on Lap 56/70, and his chances of improving much beyond P18 even had Racing Bulls not retired his car were slim. Hadjar was P17 and 22.058s from the points before Lando Norris crashed into Oscar Piastri in the Canadian GP.
Lawson’s overall performance in Montreal, having also qualified in P19 while Hadjar reached Q3, also does his hopes of retaining his drive no favours. Red Bull could put Arvid Lindblad in Lawson’s Racing Bulls seat during the 2025 season if the 23-year-old continues to struggle.
