Why 'not acceptable' Lawson form is giving Red Bull another F1 driver headache

P20 in main qualifying was a total disaster, his chances of progressing not helped by getting caught up with Pierre Gasly before he started his last lap.

“It was just one of those things,” he said when I asked if that was what had caught him out. “He decided to go for his lap early, and I started my lap too close.

“But it shouldn’t be the difference between me getting through to Q2 and not getting through. We should already be there on the first lap. It’s just something I need to get on top of.”

He didn’t want to take comfort from passing a few people in the sprint: “Honestly, not really. It’s great that we’re moving forward, but I’m in a Red Bull, so finishing 14th it’s not really acceptable.”

Lawson’s struggle serves to highlight once again how Verstappen somehow manages to make the Red Bull work for him.

“It’s just a small window, and it’s hard to drive, it’s hard to get in that window,” said Lawson. “And I’d love to say that with time, obviously, that’ll come. I just don’t really have time to do that. So it’s just something I need to get on top of.

“It’s just car characteristics, the way the car drives. But obviously if Max is able to drive it, then I should be able to get on top of it as well.

“We had a really messy testing, and it’s hard to know really where we stood from that. We had a solid first half of the day, and then the next day we drove was a bit out of sync with everybody.

“So we don’t really get a clear indication. So it’s something that I felt in Melbourne and here as well, obviously. So I just need to work on it.”

Two unfamiliar tracks haven’t been easy, but at least he knows Suzuka from Super Formula, and that’s a head start.

“I think it’s more getting on top of this and getting the car in the right window, and Suzuka will help that,” he said “But right now, I just want to look into this and figure out what’s going on.”

It’s still way too early to jump to conclusions even in the context of Red Bull’s penchant for losing patience with drivers.

Clearly Lawson needed a decent start to the season, and the soaring confidence that he had after getting the job has taken a serious knock. Perez was eased out because RBR needed someone to consistently log points, and his replacement is going to have to start doing that within the next couple of races.

Yuki Tsunoda on form

Having been overlooked at the end of last year Tsunoda continues to stake his claim for an RBR chance. He qualified fifth in Melbourne and was running a superb sixth in the race when the team kept him out too long on slicks and he tumbled out of the points. He then started Saturday’s Shanghai sprint in eighth, and having gained two places at the start he finished sixth.

Along with Hadjar, Tsunoda was at the sharp end in Q1 and Q2 only for a mistake in Q3 to leave him an eventual ninth on the grid, and he was outperformed by his team mate. Nevertheless it’s been a solid start to the season for the Japanese driver.

“I think as a team, we did a good job,” he said. I think we made a huge step, even compared to sprint qualifying. So well done to them.

“Sprint qualifying I was not really that happy to be honest with my car, and I ended up P8, so that was the situation that probably to be honest we didn’t really expect.

“Straight away from the exit of the garage in Q1 I felt a pretty good car compared to what I had in SQ already. So that already gave me a good confidence to go through.”

The Racing Bulls team has clearly made a good step this year, and the fact that the strong form continued from Australia to China has surprised Tsunoda.

“To be honest in Australia, I thought it would more the performance coming from the track characteristics,” he said. “China is a lot different compared to Australia, much longer corners. I thought it will be a big limitation for us, but so far it seems to be actually performing as consistent as Australia. So a big surprise.

“Last year if I remember correctly, these kinds of long corners, we tended to struggle, especially long runs.”

Hadjar’s first impression

Going off at Turn 13 spoiled Tsunoda’s final grid position and left him a couple of spots behind his team-mate, but he was beaten by the Frenchman in the first two sessions as well. It was a hugely impressive performance given the massive disappointment of Melbourne.

“He did a really good job,” said Tsunoda. “He bounced back really strong. And big credit to him that he was able to, just in a week brought back his confidence, and he seems to enjoy so far. So happy to see that. I just keep supporting him, and we progress as a team together.”

It’s something that Tsunoda didn’t see coming: “Surprised a little bit, especially in the Bahrain test he was probably not as fast as this.

“And I think he made a step from the Bahrain test. I think quite excited for the team that we can we have a good potential to maybe have a really good successful season.”

As for Hadjar, it’s way too early to think of him as a replacement for Lawson as the next man in the RBR hotseat, but he’s certainly given Marko and Horner pause for thought, and added to the pressure on the incumbent.

Before his disastrous crash he had made a good impression on Friday and Saturday in Australia, and intriguingly he wasn’t happy with seventh on the Shanghai grid.

“I think best feeling I had was in Q1 with the car,” he said. “And then Q2 I think that the wind was just changing a bit. I could never find the same balance. So I was struggling a bit more with the car, and I knew where I was losing. There was more lap time, more positions to gain.

“In Melbourne we stayed down to earth because it’s a really specific track, and we go to Shanghai, it’s completely different. It looks, let’s say, maybe more like Bahrain, and seems like the car is still working perfectly. So the team have been fantastic in maximising the package.

“It shows the potential is really high. But at the stage of my career putting everything together on the final Q3, lap is the hardest exercise for me. So I need to work a bit on that.”

Arriving in F1 somewhat in the shadow of the likes of Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman, Hadjar is proving to be quite a colourful addition to the F1 grid, and he won a few hearts last weekend.

Sunday in Shanghai will be his first race start, and he’ll make it with the Ferraris if Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc just ahead, and the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli behind. It will be an early chance of redemption – and it will be fascinating to see what he can do.