Liam Lawson, with members of the Racing Bulls crew, at the Bahrain Grand Prix, 14 April, 2025. Photo: AFP
Liam Lawson says he wasn't intentionally colliding with other cars in his penalty-ridden Bahrain Grand Prix.
New Zealander Lawson crossed the line in 13th place, but was relegated four places for 15 seconds worth of time penalties after two collisions during the race.
After the race, his finishing position lifted to 16th because of Nico Hulkenberg's disqualification because of excessive skid block wear on his Sauber. Hulkenberg had finished in 13th place.
Australian Oscar Piastri led from pole to finish, winning by 15.499 seconds from from Mercedes' George Russell, who edged out McLaren's Lando Norris for second.
Lawson landed two time penalties - five seconds for contacting Lance Stroll's Aston Martin during a safety car period and 10 seconds for causing a collision with Hulkenberg's car.
Lawson expressed his frustration after his fourth finish outside the top 10 in the first four Grand Prix of the season. Two of those were for the Red Bull main team before his demotion to the Racing Bulls team for the Japanese and Bahrain races. He is 18th of the 20 drivers after the four races, one of four with no points. Teammate Isack Hadjar, who finished 13th in Bahrain is 15th overall.
"I was pretty much on the gearbox of the car the whole race.
"We had really good speed, we just couldn't really use it," he said.
"To be honest, the only way I could overtake was lunging quite late.
"I wasn't intentionally touching with others, but it is what it is," said Lawson who started at 17 on the grid after being eliminated in the first round of qualifying.
"The last stint was OK. Obviously it's a shame."
Lawson finished 64.435 seconds behind Piastri and his fastest lap was more than two seconds slower than Piastri's fastest of 1min 35.140sec.
"The car was fast in the race, but there's only so much you can do from the back,'' he said in his post-race interview.
Piastri leads from pole-to-flag
McLaren's Australian driver Oscar Piastri gestures after winning the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir on April 14, 2025. Photo: AFP
Piastri celebrated his 50th Formula 1 race with his pole-to-flag win that catapulted him into second overall and three points behind championship leading McLaren teammate Norris.
Norris had to settle for third, after having to fight back from a five-second penalty for a jumped start from sixth on the grid.
Mercedes' Russell held off his fellow Briton, denying him a third successive second place in a tense battle over the closing laps.
Russell was summoned to the stewards for an alleged breach of the drag reduction system rules but they decided not to apply a penalty, with the results confirmed.
"It's been an incredible weekend, starting off with qualifying yesterday and to finish the job today in style was nice," said Piastr.
"It's obviously a very important race for us, given our owners, and it's never been a track that's been kind to us. So it's nice to have that first win for the team (in Bahrain)," added the Australian.
Since the first Grand Prix at Sakhir in 2004, McLaren had never won at the desert circuit that hosts a home race for the British team's biggest shareholder.
Piastri also became the season's first repeat winner in four races.
Norris now has 77 points to Piastri's 74, with McLaren on 151 in the constructors' standings and Mercedes second on 93.
"I think at the beginning I was too far back, so I tried to creep forward and crept forward and did the opposite," said Norris of his botched start.
"First time I've ever done this in my life. Shouldn't happen, but it did - and I paid the price for it."
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, passed by Norris eight laps from the end, and Lewis Hamilton were fourth and fifth, with the Italian team's former boss Luca di Montezemolo waving the chequered flag as fireworks lit up the night sky.
Verstappen sixth
Leclerc and Hamilton started on a different strategy to Mercedes and McLaren, lining up with medium tyres rather than the softs.
Red Bull's four-times world champion Max Verstappen, who had been only a point behind Norris after winning in Japan last weekend, finished sixth after being slowed by a faulty pit signal and dropped to third in the standings.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri enjoys the celebrations after his win in Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix, 14 April, 2025. Photo: AFP
Pierre Gasly scored Alpine's first points of the campaign in seventh and former teammate Esteban Ocon, who crashed heavily in qualifying, redeemed himself with eighth for Haas.
Yuki Tsunoda delivered Red Bull's first double points finish of the year in ninth and the final point was secured for Haas by British rookie Oliver Bearman, who started last.
The safety car was deployed on the 32nd of 57 laps as officials cleared debris on the track, with the leading drivers all pitting and Piastri seeing his seven second lead evaporate.
When it came in, Norris chased Leclerc and finally made a move stick after several failed attempts with the McLaren driver accusing the Monegasque of forcing him off at one point.
"I made too many mistakes with the overtakes," said Norris. "It was a messy race for me and I'm disappointed not to bring home a one-two for McLaren because it would have been lovely at home."
Russell was an obstacle too far despite the Mercedes driver battling various electrical systems problems.
"It felt all under control for a moment and then suddenly we had a brake-by-wire failure. So suddenly the pedal was going long, and then it was going short," said Russell.
"I didn't know what was going on. The steering wheel wasn't working properly, so it was really hard fought to keep Lando behind. I think one more lap, he would have got me pretty comfortably."
- RNZ Sport / Reuters
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