Red Bull F1 star admits Australian Grand Prix gamble backfired in Melbourne

Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson — Photo: © IMAGO

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Red Bull F1 star admits Australian GP gamble backfired in Melbourne

Weather wreaked havoc for the drivers on an incident-packed afternoon at Albert Park

Kevin McKenna

Monday 17 March 2025 21:57

One of Red Bull's star F1 drivers has shared his disappointment after a gamble at Sunday's Australian Grand Prix failed to pay off.

The 2025 Formula 1 season got off to a stunning start in Melbourne, as horrid conditions on race day wreaked havoc across the grid.

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Last year's championship runner-up Lando Norris was the first of just 14 cars to cross the finish line, with title-holder Max Verstappen and Mercedes' George Russell completing the top three.

Much of the attention was focused on Lewis Hamilton as he took to the track for his Ferrari racing debut, but the Brit could only come home 10th, two places behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Lando Norris came home first at the Australian GP

Several drivers failed to finish the race in Melbourne due to testing track conditions

Lawson laments miserable weekend

There was disappointment too for Red Bull's new recruit, Liam Lawson, who crashed out in the closing stages to compound a miserable weekend for the Kiwi, which also saw him eliminated from Q1.

The constantly changing conditions on race-day made it a challenging afternoon for everyone involved, both on the track and within the garage, with teams forced to alter their strategies throughout.

In a bid to save Lawson's race, Red Bull opted to gamble and leave their newest arrival out on medium tyres as his rivals made the change to intermediates.

But that decision backfired in spectacular fashion, with the 23-year-old unable to keep his car away from the wall on Lap 47, thus cutting his Red Bull debut short.

Liam Lawson crashed out in the closing stages in Melbourne

“We took a chance, hoping that at least half of the track would stay dry,” he told F1 media. “We knew that sector three was bad, but we thought that sector one would stay a bit drier, so we carried on. Unfortunately, it was bucketing down with rain.

“At that point, to be honest, I’d backed out of pushing because it was so wet. I was just trying to stay on the track. But obviously, it’s not ideal."

On his lack of progress up the order to that point, he added: “Yeah, we were really struggling to be honest.

"I had a lot of tyre issues with the front early on in the race, so it’s just been a tough weekend.”

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Lando Norris Australian Grand Prix