“I can’t turn the car at all”: Full radio from Lawson’s alarming Chinese GP slog to 16th

From last on the grid, Liam Lawson laboured to a 16th place finish on the road in Shanghai.

It was a result no team would have been pleased with. But for a front-running team like Red Bull it was an alarmingly poor showing from their new driver, and has prompted speculation they might even take the drastic step of replacing him before the next race.

Lawson qualified at the back for both of last weekend’s races at Shanghai International Circuit. He made modest progress over the 19-lap sprint race, taking the chequered flag in 14th place.

For the grand prix, Lawson pinned his hopes on an aggressive set-up change which he hoped would allow him to drive the car the way he wanted to. But those hopes were dashed over the 56 laps which followed, as his communications with race engineer Richard Wood below show.

As the race wore on, the exchanges between the pair became fewer and further between, as it became clear neither could find an answer to the handling problems Lawson experienced, and he dropped further off the pace of his team mate. By the end of the race, Max Verstappen’s lap times were more than a second quicker than his team mate’s, despite his tyres being 17 laps older.

Lawson took the chequered flag 16th. Penalties for four other drivers later promoted him to 12th, but his 64-second deficit to Verstappen will be of utmost concern to his team.

Lawson’s Chinese Grand Prix radio messages

Jump to:
Stint 1: Hard
Stint 2: Medium
Stint 3: Hard
Finish

Stint 1: Hard

The trio who started on the hard tyres all slowed around lap 15, as they were passed by those who started on mediums and emerged from the pits behind them after changing tyres. But while Stroll and Bearman’s lap times recovered, Lawson’s did not, leading Red Bull to pit him much earlier than them.

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Lawson’s race compared to his team mate, the two other drivers who started on hards and Isack Hadjar, who finished one place ahead of him

Stint 2: Medium

Bearman and Stroll ran longer opening stints and finished the race with just one more pit stop, which helped them finish in the points. But Lawson was never going to be able to make his medium rubber last 37 laps, and he quickly found his tyres dropped off.

When Bearman made his pit stop and began gaining on Lawson, Red Bull pulled him in for his second pit stop. The Haas driver nonetheless managed to pass him before the end of the lap.

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Stint 3: Hard

Lawson’s first lap out of the pits on his new set of hards was well over a second quicker than Verstappen’s when he emerged from the pits on the same rubber 17 laps earlier and only a tenth of a second slower than Lewis Hamilton’s when he took a second set of hard tyres seven laps later.

The difference was, both those drivers went faster on their subsequent laps. Wood was urging his driver to push the tyre hard on his out-lap, but he couldn’t find more pace, and within half-a-dozen laps he was slower than Verstappen again. After the race finish he said his car’s balance only felt good on his first lap out of the pits.

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Finish

Long, awkward silences characterised Lawson’s final laps in a Red Bull around Shanghai. After taking the chequered flag he apologised to the team for how poorly the race had gone.

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