Liam Lawson was left to lament a «tough» Miami Grand Prix as he was forced to retire following Lap 1 contact, while team mate Isack Hadjar finished agonisingly close to points in 11th.
The Grand Prix capped a disappointing weekend for Racing Bulls, with Lawson initially scoring points in the Sprint before being handed a time penalty that dropped him down the order after contact with Fernando Alonso.
More contact followed in the Grand Prix, this time with Jack Doohan – who, it was announced on Wednesday, would be benched at Alpine in favour of Franco Colapinto for at least the next five rounds – who tapped Lawson into a spin in the first corner.
That dropped the New Zealander to last and, although he tried to continue, the damage was too great and he wound up retiring midway through the race.
“I don’t really know what happened,» Lawson explained. «I had a really good launch, and a gap opened up through the middle into Turn 1 so I took it and then I just felt a hit from the side into Turn 1. I don’t know what happened, I need to watch it back but then it obviously destroyed the floor so we had to retire.
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“It is not a nice feeling when you know that – you know you are basically in for a long afternoon, you are waiting for rain and it is drizzling at points and giving you the tiniest bit of hope but the car was broken anyway so it was going to be a tough one regardless.”
All of that means Lawson is still yet to score this season for either Red Bull or Racing Bulls, with two DNFs now to his name in 2025.
Meanwhile Hadjar did come close to scoring in Miami as the rookie missed out by a fraction in 11th place, with his former team mate Tsunoda carrying a five-second time penalty ahead. When the Red Bull man picked up the penalty for speeding in the pit lane, Hadjar was just 4.6s behind, and knew if he could maintain the gap, he would score for the third time this season.
But Tsunoda put his foot down, the gap grew and Hadjar was run ragged in the closing stages trying to claw back the deficit.
Lawson was left with floor and sidepod damage after his opening lap collision with Doohan
“I could see the delta on my steering wheel and I was really pushing in my car but, yeah, it was not enough,» he said after the race. «That last lap, I know I made – I wanted it too much, to close the gap and there were a few mistakes so it is really frustrating and I feel a bit down.»
Following a strong start to the season for Racing Bulls, particularly in Qualifying, it has been a tougher recent run for the squad, with midfield rivals Williams appearing to be a step ahead, something Hadjar was keenly aware of.
“You look at the Williams, they are the one who made the big step forward,” the rookie racer added.
“I think we are doing a good job but the last few races they have been really, really good. I think it is also track-dependent, maybe we will be back in shape in the European races but yeah, we need to keep working.”
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