Red Bull has openly acknowledged its shortcomings by admitting it let down Liam Lawson due to a significant failure during the Australian Grand Prix, leading to a rough patch for the team.
Lawson, who raced as a teammate to Max Verstappen, found himself back with Racing Bulls after the Chinese Grand Prix, having not scored any points in both Australia and China. This was particularly challenging as he had no prior driving experience on either track before the practice sessions.
In China, the situation was even tougher with the event being the first Sprint race of the season, which restricted practice time to just a single one-hour session. Things didn’t look brighter in Australia either, as Lawson faced a turbo issue right at the start of the FP3, effectively removing his chance to complete any qualifying simulations.
When it came to qualifying at Albert Park, his journey ended prematurely in Q1. Lawson felt that he could have reached the Q2 rounds if he had more opportunities to get comfortable with low-fuel conditions.
Discussing the team’s performance, Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan admitted that they hadn’t done their best to support Lawson.
“In those first two races, both cars provided valuable feedback, which was quite similar,” Monaghan explained to the media, including reporters from RacingNews365. “Despite this, we didn’t manage to get Lawson further up the grid, particularly in Australia where he couldn’t run in FP3, and then facing a Sprint race in China made it tougher.”
With only an hour of practice before being thrown into competition, it was understandably a daunting task for someone unfamiliar with the circuit.
Monaghan continued, “The feedback from both cars is already proving valuable, but we’ll see just how different they are after today’s practice. Our aim is to get both cars up there as it’s a testament to the hard work put in and crucial for competing against the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes in the constructors’ championship. We would struggle if we relied on just one car, but I’m confident we’ll have both performing well and fighting for places.”
