📰 Liam Lawson hit by penalties again finishes 12th in Saudi Arabia

By Alex Powell

For the second Formula One race in a row, Liam Lawson’s chances were dashed by a time penalty, as the Kiwi finished 12th at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

While the Kiwi crossed the line 11th at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, a 10-second time penalty dropped the Racing Bulls driver down the grid, and he finished adrift of teammate Isack Hadjar, who took 10th place.

Lawson was penalised when, on the 28th of 50 laps, he was judged to have left the track to overtake Alpine’s Jack Doohan, and gained an advantage in doing so.

“I didn’t have a great start,” said Lawson. “[I was in the] wrong place on the first lap, when everything happened.

“It’s a shame. The car was pretty quick. We just spent the whole race in traffic again. It’s a shame.

 “This weekend’s been the most comfortable I’ve been in the car - I just want some points.

“We’re doing all the right things, it just needs to come together.”

The punishment follows last week’s Bahrain Grand Prix, where Lawson was handed two time penalties worth a total of 15 seconds for incidents with Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.

Regardless, finishing 12th is still Lawson’s best result of 2025 so far, after his demotion from Red Bull’s senior team last month.

However, today’s penalty was questionable for the fact that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was also handed a similar punishment on a lap one overtake of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, but was only given a five-second penalty.

That penalty, though, did cost Verstappen victory, as Piastri took his third of the season, and second in as many weeks, to become the first driver in 2025 - and first since last year’s Qatar Grand Prix - to claim a race win without starting on pole.

The victory also takes Piastri to the top of the drivers championship, and he becomes the first Australian to lead Formula One since Mark Webber in 2010. Coincidentally, former Red Bull driver Webber is also Piastri’s manager.

Regardless, finishing 12th is still Lawson’s best result of 2025 so far, after his demotion from Red Bull’s senior team last month.

However, today’s penalty was questionable for the fact that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was also handed a similar punishment on a lap one overtake of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, but was only given a five-second penalty.

That penalty, though, did cost Verstappen victory, as Piastri took his third of the season, and second in as many weeks, to become the first driver in 2025 - and first since last year’s Qatar Grand Prix - to claim a race win without starting on pole.

The victory also takes Piastri to the top of the drivers championship, and he becomes the first Australian to lead Formula One since Mark Webber in 2010. Coincidentally, former Red Bull driver Webber is also Piastri’s manager.

But while Lawson survived the carnage, the Kiwi wasn’t able to improve on his starting position of 12th - even as two cars in front of him retired. What’s more, Hadjar was able to gain three places, and climbed to 11th ahead of his teammate.

As racing resumed on lap four, Hadjar was able to put distance between himself and Lawson, and overtook Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin to move to 10th.

Lawson, though, stayed hot on the heels of Alonso, and was able to overtake the veteran on lap 15, courtesy of his DRS, and closed the gap to Hadjar to less than four seconds.

Lap 19 saw the first pit stops after the safety car, as Lawson moved into 10th place as Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli fitted a new set of hard tyres.

One lap later, Lawson pitted, and emerged down in 16th - eyeing the chance to undercut the drivers ahead of him when they took their first stops. Already on hard tyres, Hadjar stayed out, and climbed as high as sixth when Lewis Hamilton and the two Williams cars pitted.

Lawson was able to get around Gabriel Bortoleto into 15th on lap 25, as the Sauber clashed with Alonso on the same straight to put space between the Kiwi and the Aston Martin.

On a fresher set of tyres, Lawson made short work of Doohan to move into 14th on lap 28, and then around Esteban Ocon’s Haas on lap 33, as the wait to see when Hadjar, and the other cars in front, pitted continued.

Hulkenberg was the first of those drivers to stop, and saw Lawson climb back to 12th.

Lap 35 saw the telling moment for Racing Bulls, as Hadjar finally stopped, and emerged in 10th - two places ahead of Lawson - on a set of faster medium tyres.

Lawson still managed to get around Stroll, and moved himself to within one car of his teammate. However, once the stewards reviewed all evidence, Lawson was handed his penalty, and scrubbed any chance of a points finish.

Even with the penalty, the Kiwi was able to push and build a gap between himself and Alonso, and closed to within a second of Hadjar as both Racing Bulls cars crossed the finish line next to each other.

After three races in as many weeks, Formula One will resume at the start of May, when the 10 teams head to Miami for the first of three US grands prix this year.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission