2025 Chinese Grand Prix

2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/Liam Lawson/Race data

Just how poor was Lawson’s pace? Chinese Grand Prix data analysed · RaceFans

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Liam Lawson may have finished his second grand prix start for Red Bull, unlike his first, but his performance continues to give the team cause for concern.

Having qualified last and started from the pit lane in order to make changes to his car’s set-up, Lawson only made it as far as 16th by the chequered flag, the last driver on the lead lap. That became 12th after Jack Doohan was penalised and three others were disqualified.

Lawson was one of three drivers who started the race on the hard rubber. His lap times kept pace with the other two, Lance Stroll and Oliver Bearman, for the first 15 laps. At that point the trio started to be passed by drivers who had started ahead of them on the medium rubber and pitted. At this point Lawson dropped well off their pace, losing one-and-a-half seconds to the other two on one lap alone, and Red Bull opted to switch him to the medium rubber.

Bearman and Stroll ran far longer on their hard rubber, reaching laps 26 and 36 respectively. This helped Bearman score the final point ‘on-the-road’, while Stroll was promoted to the top 10 by the post-race disqualifications. Lawson absolutely should have been in a position to do the same.

But his early switch to medium tyres consigned him to a two-stop strategy. Once back on the hards his pace quickly tailed off.

Lawson set a 1’35.985 when he left the pits on his new hard tyres, which was 1.2 seconds faster than team mate Verstappen did at the same time on the same rubber, albeit 17 laps older. Within six laps Verstappen was lapping quicker on his older rubber than Lawson. At the chequered flag Lawson was giving away over a second per lap.

As the race came to a close a crisis was developing at McLaren. Lando Norris’s brake pedal was lengthening each lap and his race engineer Will Joseph was urging him to back off to look after them.

Norris was desperate to chase down team mate Oscar Piastri for the lead of the race. As late as lap 53 of 56 he was still lapping quicker than the other McLaren, but he backed off over the final three tours.

At the same time third-placed George Russell picked up his pace, having given away up to a second per lap to Norris over the previous laps. Had he kept his pace just a little higher then, he could have got within DRS range of Norris on the final lap, and the McLaren driver would have found it very hard to defend his position at the turn 14 hairpin.

2025 Chinese Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2025 Chinese Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

2025 Chinese Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

Rank#DriverTeamComplete stop time (s)Gap to best (s)Stop no.Lap no.
116Charles LeclercFerrari22.151115
24Lando NorrisMcLaren22.2130.062115
36Isack HadjarRacing Bulls22.2340.083233
463George RussellMercedes22.3240.173114
530Liam LawsonRed Bull22.3550.204230
644Lewis HamiltonFerrari22.3640.213237
744Lewis HamiltonFerrari22.3880.237113
81Max VerstappenRed Bull22.4540.303113
922Yuki TsunodaRacing Bulls22.5190.368111
1030Liam LawsonRed Bull22.5360.385118
1122Yuki TsunodaRacing Bulls22.5830.432235
1212Andrea Kimi AntonelliMercedes22.6750.524112
1355Carlos Sainz JnrWilliams22.7210.57117
145Gabriel BortoletoSauber22.790.639226
157Jack DoohanAlpine22.7930.642111
1687Oliver BearmanHaas22.8080.657126
176Isack HadjarRacing Bulls22.8960.745112
1827Nico HulkenbergSauber22.9590.808120
1918Lance StrollAston Martin22.9950.844136
2031Esteban OconHaas23.1140.963111
2110Pierre GaslyAlpine23.1380.987110
2223Alexander AlbonWilliams23.3621.211120
235Gabriel BortoletoSauber23.3851.23411
2481Oscar PiastriMcLaren23.9381.787114
2522Yuki TsunodaRacing Bulls38.10215.951346

NB. Leclerc, Hamilton and Gasly were disqualified

2025 Chinese Grand Prix

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/Formula 1/Liam Lawson/Red Bull

Lawson is relieved the next track is one he knows

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Liam Lawson is looking forward to driving at a track he knows after two poor weekends on unfamiliar circuits.

However rumours are growing that Red Bull could drop him from their top team before the next round at Suzuka in Japan.

Lawson failed to score points in either of this weekend’s races at Shanghai International Circuit. He crashed out of the season-opening race at Melbourne, which also took place on a track he had never previously raced at.

Speaking after today’s race, Lawson said he was eager to get more time in the car in order to work on the problems he’s had. “I’d love to say ‘I just need more time driving the car’, but obviously we don’t really have that,” he told the official F1 channel.

“So fortunately we go to a track that I know, and it’s a track that I like. But I’ll be spending this week very heavily going into absolutely everything to try and obviously do a better job.”

Suzuka, the next venue on the calendar, is the only venue out of the first 14 rounds on the 2025 F1 calendar where Lawson has previously started a grand prix. He also knows the track well from his stint in Japan’s Super Formula series two years ago and took pole position on his last visit.

Lawson started today’s race from the pit lane in order to evaluate set-up changes to his car. However he found the RB21’s performance was worse for him than it had been the day before.

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“To be honest we were even more competitive in yesterday’s sprint,” he said. “We were able to overtake cars and move forward.

Liam Lawson, AlphaTauri, Suzuka, 2023
Lawson beat team mate Tsunoda at Suzuka in 2023

“We tried something with set-up to learn something today. It was quite a big step and unfortunately it just didn’t work.

“There’s a lot to learn from this weekend, a lot for me personally to get on top of as well. It’s just been extremely tough.”

Before the season began, Lawson predicted he would have a “very, very tough” start due to his lack of experience on many of the first tracks F1 is visiting this year. After Suzuka, he knows several tracks from Formula 2, but Miami and Montreal are also venues Lawson hasn’t driven at before.

Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko said Lawson’s performance was “not what we expected.”

“We’ll analyse it carefully,” he told Sky on Saturday. “We have a few who are coming up and thankfully we’re well positioned.”

If Lawson does lose his Red Bull seat, the team is expected to promote Yuki Tsunoda, who they passed over for the drive when they sought a replacement for Sergio Perez at the end of last season.

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/charles leclerc/Ferrari/Lewis Hamilton

Did F1’s radio editing create a false narrative Hamilton was disobeying Ferrari? · RaceFans

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Did Lewis Hamilton refuse to obey Ferrari when they ordered him to let his team mate past?

Or did Formula 1 misleadingly edit Ferrari’s radio messages during their live Chinese Grand Prix broadcast, giving a false impression that Hamilton had disobeyed his team?

Comparing what was actually said on the radio with what was played out, Ferrari could justifiably claim Formula One Management misrepresented Hamilton’s words. Those who only heard the portion played on the world feed could easily have formed the wrong impression.

However, listening to Ferrari’s radio messages in full also reveals why the radio confusion happened in the first place. Moreover, it shows Leclerc had to wait much longer to be let by than it seemed from the world feed.

The situation began to play out on lap 18, after the Ferrari drivers had made their first pit stops. Hamilton pitted first, but although he gained the benefit of the ‘undercut’, he lost time passing Liam Lawson. Leclerc cleared the Red Bull more quickly and arrived on the tail of his team mate, who was now trying to find a way past Oliver Bearman.

By lap 17 both had passed Bearman and were now closing on Stroll. But on the next lap Hamilton gave his race engineer Riccardo Adami an unusual message: He said he was considering whether to let Leclerc by. Significantly, this message was not played on the world feed.

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Lap: 16/56 LEC: 1’55.134, HAM: 1’37.942
BozziNext car is Lewis.AdamiMind your tyres in the high-speed.
AdamiCharles car behind, 0.4.
Hamilton passes Bearman at turn 14
Lap: 17/56 LEC: 1’37.426, HAM: 1’37.531
AdamiTarget…
HamiltonI don’t seem to have plenty of rear.
AdamiUnderstood. Target 100 metre, lift and coast, total. B-bal 58.
Lap: 18/56 LEC: 1’38.380, HAM: 1’37.834
BozziSOC seven.HamiltonI think I’m going to let Charles go, because I’m struggling.
LeclercCopy that.AdamiUnderstood. Manage more the tyres in high speed.

Hamilton may have only tentatively suggested switching positions but Ferrari reacted immediately, ordering their drivers to swap places that same lap. Clearly, Hamilton was not prepared to go along with that right away, and drove past turn 14 without backing off as instructed.

BozziExit turn 10
And we will swap the cars in turn 14.		AdamiWe’re going to swap the cars into turn 14, one-four.
BozziAnd Lewis will let you by into turn 14.

The next time around Ferrari went through the same process and got the same result. Hamilton told them he was waiting for Leclerc to get closer to him.

By the end of lap 19 Leclerc had been waiting two laps to get by and those watching the world television feed had heard no messages indicating this was the case.

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Lap: 19/56 LEC: 1’36.907, HAM: 1’37.075
BozziExit turn 13
We will swap the cars into turn 14.		AdamiDiff mid three, suggestion. And George ahead lap time 38.8
AdamiWe are swapping cars, turn 14.
HamiltonI will when he’s closer.

FOM played the first radio message indicating the discussions taking place at Ferrari on lap 20. This was a message from the previous lap, when Adami told Hamilton: “We are swapping cars turn 14,” to which the driver replied: “When he’s closer, yeah.”

Anyone watching the feed without access to the drivers’ full radio communications would have been unaware that Hamilton had suggested the position swap two laps earlier. They would also be unaware Ferrari had told Leclerc shortly afterwards the swap was about to happen.

On lap 20, for the third lap in a row, Ferrari called for a position swap at turn 14 which did not happen.

Lap: 20/56 LEC: 1’37.299, HAM: 1’37.469
Leclerc(Unclear)HamiltonPit straight
If he can’t get the cars ahead, he can let us… out his way. Right now I’m closing up a little bit.
BozziThis is what he’s been told.AdamiOkay understood.
AdamiExit turn 12
Do we want to swap this now?
HamiltonI’ll tell you when we’re going to swap.

That provoked Leclerc’s disappointed reaction, which was broadcast around the same time Hamilton finally let him through, at turn one instead of 14.

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Lap: 21/56 LEC: 1’37.160, HAM: 1’39.319
LeclercThis is a shame. The pace is there.
Hamilton lets Leclerc past in turn one)))		AdamiB-bal 59, suggestion.
BozziWell done, sorry about that. Keep pushing. SOC 6 when you want.
BozziSo you are the fastest car out there. Let’s go, Charles.

Clearly, the impression FOM created of Hamilton’s messages is misleading. What’s more, they did so mere days after Hamilton complained about the negative reaction to clips of his radio which were played during the Australian Grand Prix, which arguably gave the impression his relationship with Adami was not going well.

However the full exchange also shows how Hamilton’s original, equivocal message was at odds with Ferrari’s immediate reaction to it. He expected to have time to dictate the position swap on his terms, while Ferrari were eager to get the position swap done immediately.

Ferrari needs to improve how it handles this sort of communication. But it is not a new problem they have developed since Hamilton joined. In Las Vegas last year Leclerc was aggravated by how the team managed him and his previous team mate.

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/Yuki Tsunoda

Front wing failure “shouldn’t happen” says Tsunoda after “frustrating” race · RaceFans

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Yuki Tsunoda was the last driver circulating at the end of the Chinese Grand Prix after a poor strategy was exacerbated by an unusual front wing failure on his car.

Both Racing Bulls drivers started in the top 10 but neither scored points as the team opted for a two-stop strategy. On a day when most drivers pitted once, that proved their undoing.

Tsunoda was already languishing outside the points places when a flap failed on the right-hand side of his front wing. That forced him into the pits for a third time for repairs.

“The front wing is definitely, to be honest, frustrating,” he told the official F1 channel. “It shouldn’t happen like that.

“I never touched, obviously, a car in front. Just some parts fall apart just naturally. At least it’s a good learning for the future to try to avoid this situation, but I was expecting much more.”

He said he was “very disappointed” with his result. “The strategy is the thing that probably we have to improve. But at the same time I understand what their thoughts behind [it were].”

Tsunoda said the team’s car was less competitive on Sunday than it had been earlier in the week, which was why their decision to pit twice did not pay off.

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“The pace was okay,” he said. “We probably we didn’t have pace as much as in the sprint qualifying race, so we have to analyse that.

“But also I’m sure we didn’t also maximise the strategy as well. So it’s mixed, things were going on but I guess the main learning is what we can prevent those situations and how we can make a more accurate strategy for the future.”

Despite showing strong pace, the team has just three points, thanks to Tsunoda’s sixth-place finish in the sprint race. They fell to ninth in the championship behind Haas this weekend.

“I think we just have to refocus,” said Tsunoda. “We know that we have good pace from the car, but I think just probably we were a little bit too reliant on that and maybe we missed something that’s really important before this race. We have to review that.

“Haas did a really good job, to be honest. They were struggling a lot until these races and suddenly they improved the pace from this race on. So big credit to them.

“But at the same time, I think also I know it’s a bit frustrating, we know that we can do better and we have the tools and we have much better people than them and a much better car than them. So missing two races in a row, with big points, it’s something we definitely have to think about.”

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/F1 Pictures

F1 pictures: 2025 Chinese Grand Prix

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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, Shanghai International Circuit, 2025


Pictures from the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit.

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/Lewis Hamilton

Set-up changes after sprint race win made car feel “terrible”

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Lewis Hamilton said the changes he made to his car after winning the sprint race ruined its balance.

Following his comfortable win from pole position on Saturday, Hamilton could only manage fifth on the grid for the grand prix and slipped to sixth place behind team mate Charles Leclerc in the race. Compounding a disappointing turnaround for Ferrari, both drivers were disqualified after their cars failed technical checks.

Immediately after the race Hamilton’s chief concern was the deterioration in his car’s performance compared to the previous day.

“I wasn’t able to get the result that I was hoping for today,” he told the official F1 channel. “I needed a good start which I got and then I was trying to see if I could pounce forwards but I just didn’t have the pace of the cars up ahead.

“Balance-wise, from the sprint race we made these changes and the car was terrible after that so I really struggled with the car from then on.”

Speaking before his disqualification was announced Hamilton said he was concerned Ferrari “were losing ground to McLarens, points-wise, and Mercedes and Verstappen. We’ve just got to keep pushing.”

However his team mate Charles Leclerc was encouraged by his car’s pace, despite picking up front wing damage on the opening lap which he carried to the finish.

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“I’m disappointed because I feel like the potential today was here to maybe fight for the win, actually,” he said. “I really feel like we had a lot of performance in the car.

“Yesterday in the sprint race I felt that way as well, especially towards the end of the sprint race. When I started pushing, I started to gain a lot.”

Leclerc also worked on his set-up between the sprint race and qualifying and said he was “quite optimistic for today.” However he broke his left-hand front wing endplate when he clipped Hamilton at the start.

“We lost 30 points of downforce so that was a big chunk of performance,” he said. “But we did a really good job considering that.

“It’s just a shame about turn one. Lewis couldn’t have done anything better, I don’t know what I could have done better. He was on the outside, I thought he was defending from a car on the outside and then he came back towards the inside. I did not expect that, but he had all the right to do so.

“So we touched. Luckily for us, we both finished the race. But it wasn’t ideal, with the damage, later on.”

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/charles leclerc/Pierre Gasly

Hamilton, Leclerc and Gasly disqualified from Chinese Grand Prix · RaceFans

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Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly have been disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after their cars failed post-race technical checks.

Neither of the teams affected, Ferrari and Alpine, contested any of the stewards’ rulings. They accepted the measurements were made correctly and said the infringements were caused by “genuine errors” on their part.

The stewards issued identical explanations for Leclerc and Gasly’s disqualifications after the technical delegate reported their cars weighed less than the 800kg minimum weight limit.

They noted the two cars were “weighed by the FIA technical delegate inside and outside scales with both scales showing the same result of 799kg after the customary draining of fuel and the replacement of a broken front wing.

“The calibration of both scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor. During the hearing there was no challenge to the FIA’s measurements which are taken to be correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly. There are no mitigating circumstances and that the team[s] confirmed that it was a genuine error by them.

“The stewards determine that article 4.1 of the FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty of a disqualification needs to be applied for such [infringements].”

Hamilton was disqualified because his plank assembly was found to be beneath the minimum thickness of nine millimetres.

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“The plank assembly of car 44 [Hamilton] was measured and found to be 8.6mm (LHS), 8.6mm (car centerline) and 8.5mm (RHS),” the stewards noted. “This is below the minimum thickness of 9mm specified under Article 3.5.9 of the Technical Regulations.

“During the hearing the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly. The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team.

“The stewards determine that Article 3.5.9 of the FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty of a disqualification needs to be applied for such an infringement.”

The trio of disqualifications have caused significant changes to the race’s original finishing order.

Esteban Ocon moves up two places to finish fifth, and therefore scores Haas’s best result since the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix. Behind him Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Alexander Albon and Oliver Bearman all move up two places in the standings.

Two drivers who did not originally finish in the top 10 have claimed points. Lance Stroll has moved up to ninth and Carlos Sainz Jnr takes the final point in 10th.

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Ferrari’s double disqualification means they fall from one point behind Red Bull to 19 adrift, and tied with Williams for fourth in the standings. Mercedes cut four points out of McLaren’s constructors’ championship lead, reducing it to 21.

The disqualifications only affect the results of the grand prix, not the sprint race, which Hamilton won.

For the Ferrari drivers, this is their second post-race disqualification due to a technical infringement in 18 months. Both were disqualified at the United States Grand Prix in 2023, when Hamilton drove for Mercedes, for excessive plank wear.

Updated: 2025 Chinese Grand Prix race result and championship points

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/charles leclerc/Formula 1/Pierre Gasly

Hamilton, Leclerc and Gasly at risk of disqualification over technical infringements · RaceFans

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Both Ferrari drivers and Pierre Gasly are at risk of disqualification from the Chinese Grand Prix after their cars failed post-race technical checks.

Charles Leclerc and Gasly’s cars were found to weight 799 kilograms after post-race checks, including the removal of fuel, were performed. The minimum weight limit is set at 800kg.

Lewis Hamilton’s car failed a check of its rearmost skid, which is required to measure at least nine millimetres. Three measurements of of Hamilton’s skid at different points were less than this.

Representatives of Ferrari and Alpine have been summoned to meet the stewards.

The discrepancies were reported by FIA Formula 1 technical delegate Jo Bauer who has reported the matters to the stewards. The standard penalty for cars which fail technical checks is disqualification, as happened to George Russell in the Belgian Grand Prix last year, which he won before his car was found to be beneath the minimum weight limit.

Leclerc finished fifth in today’s race, Hamilton sixth and Gasly 11th. If all three drivers are disqualified, Lance Stroll will inherit ninth place and Carlos Sainz Jnr will move up to 10th.

Leclerc lost part of his front wing when he made contact with Lewis Hamilton at the start of the race. The stewards took this into account by comparing the weight of his damaged wing with that of a spare provided by Ferrari. The undamaged wing was 200 grams heavier.

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Technical delegate’s reports on Leclerc, Gasly and Hamilton’s cars

After the race, car number 16 [Leclerc] was weighed and its weight was 800.0 kg, which is the minimum weight required by TR Article 4.1. As the front wing was damaged (the missing FW endplate was recovered and weighed with the car), the car was re-weighed with an [official] spare front wing assembly of car 16 and its weight was 800.5 kg.

After this, fuel was drained out of the car and 2.0 litres of fuel were removed. The car was drained according to the draining procedure submitted by the team in their legality document. The car was weighed again on the FIA scales (with the [official] spare front wing assembly of car 16) and the weight was 799.0 kg. The calibration of the scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor. For information the spare front wing was 0.2 kg heavier than the damaged one used during the race.

As this is 1.0 kg below the minimum weight requested in TR Article 4.1, which also has to be respected at all times during the competition, I am referring this matter to the Stewards for their consideration.

After the race, car number 10 [Gasly] was weighed and its weight was 800.0 kg, which is the minimum weight required by TR Article 4.1. After this, a fuel mass check was carried out and 1.1 kg of fuel were removed. The car was drained according to the draining procedure submitted by the team in their legality document. The car was weighed again on the FIA scales and the weight was 799.0 kg. The calibration of the scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.

As this is 1.0 kg below the minimum weight requested in TR Article 4.1, which also has to be respected at all times during the competition, I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.

The skid wear of car number 44 was checked.

The rearmost skid was measured according to the team’s legality documents submission in accordance with TD039 L, item 1.2 b) i). Measurements were taken along the stiffness compliant area at three different points of the periphery (inner arc). The recorded measurement were 8.6mm (LHS), 8.6mm (car centerline) and 8.5mm (RHS).

As this is less than the 9 mm minimum thickness required by TR Article 3.5.9 e), I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.

This article will be updated

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/Fernando Alonso/Formula 1

Alonso says his brake failure could have ‘taken four or five cars out’ · RaceFans

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Fernando Alonso said he was lucky the brake failure which put him out of the race happened at a quick corner and not a slow one.

The Aston Martin driver retired in the pits after the problem struck. He revealed he problem struck as he approached the first corner.

“The brakes apparently were very hot since the beginning of the race,” he told the official F1 channel. “Then by lap three or lap four I went on the brakes in turn one and the pedal went just to the bottom of the chassis. That was super-scary.”

Turn one is one of the quickest corners on the track. Drivers only have to decelerate a little, which meant Alonso was able to bring the car under control.

“Lucky turn one is just a corner that you just downshift and go into the corner,” he said. “If that happens in turn 14 or whatever I think it could be a massive crash because I will take four or five cars in front of me out of the race.

“So, an unlucky situation, I think we were lucky today to not hit any car in front of us or whatever and now let’s try to understand what happened and try to see the first chequered flag in Japan.”

Alonso remains yet to finish a grand prix this year after crashing out of the Australian Grand Prix a week ago. He said the car’s performance was “a little bit better than in Australia, I think, in race pace, yesterday in the sprint.”

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His team mate Lance Stroll finished 12th after running a long opening stint on the hard tyre compound. He said he thought a points finish might be possible before his final stint.

“I thought the race was coming to us after the first stint,” he said. “But just the other medium [tyre, there was] a lot of graining and then I think the whole race ended up just becoming a one-stop for everybody, so that was that.”

“I think we have a lot to work on, for sure, if we want to finish in the points comfortably going forward,” he added.

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/Liam Lawson

Lack of pre-season testing hurt Red Bull debut but it’s ‘no excuse’

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Liam Lawson refuses to make excuses for his poor start to the season at Red Bull, but admits he would have benefited from more pre-season running in one of the team’s cars.

Red Bull announced its decision to promote Lawson in place of Sergio Perez after the end of last season. Lawson spent the last six races of 2024 driving for their second team, now known as Racing Bulls.

However given the specific handling characteristics of Red Bull’s chassis, which other drivers have struggled with, Lawson said he would have benefited from more running in one of their older cars. Other rookies such as Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Jack Doohan benefited from extensive testing programmes in their teams’ older cars.

Earlier in the Chinese Grand Prix weekend Lawson remarked he ‘needs time and doesn’t have a lot’. While this was taken by some as an indication Red Bull is already considering whether to replace him, Lawson said he was referring to the limited track time he has in their cars.

“We’re in the season, we’re two races in and we’re racing,” he told Sky. “It’s something that you’d love to have, 60 test days and things like that, and I know a lot of the other guys tested a lot out of season.

“Unfortunately, it’s not something we did. It’s not something we can do in this [year’s] car anyway. So it’s just one of those things, it’s not an excuse, it’s just something that I’ve got to get on top of as quickly as I can.”

Lawson qualified last for both races in Shanghai. He opted to start the grand prix from the pit lane in order to make changes to his car’s suspension. However he said this did not improve the car for him and he felt more competitive in the sprint race.

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“We tried to do something quite aggressive today with the set-up,” he said. “That’s why we started from the pit lane, mostly to learn something and get an idea.

“I think we definitely learned something and it just didn’t work today. Looking at the sprint yesterday, we were a lot more competitive, able to overtake cars and stuff. Today it was just a lot more difficult so it’s something we’ll learn from but obviously there’s plenty that I’ve got to work on personally as well.”

“The direction we went today was to basically […] make the car a bit easier in a lot of ways and just help the balance,” he explained. “But unfortunately it just went the wrong way and it made the car just a lot slower, basically. So it’s the way it is and it’s something I’ve got to get my head around.”

Lawson finished the grand prix in 15th place, 20 seconds outside of the points places.

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