Liam Lawson's F1 future uncertain as teammate outperforms him
THE FACTS
Liam Lawson's Formula One career sits on a knife's edge.
The weekend's Canadian Grand Prix brought yet more disappointment for New Zealand motorsport fans. After qualifying in 19th place on the 20-car grid, Lawson struggled from the start and did not finish the race.
The 23-year-old is
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NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Liam Lawson's F1 future uncertain as teammate outperforms him
THE FACTS Liam Lawson's Formula One career sits on a knife's edge. The weekend's Canadian Grand Prix brought yet more disappointment for New Zealand motorsport fans. After qualifying in 19th place on the 20-car grid, Lawson struggled from the start and did not finish the race. The 23-year-old is
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Toto Wolff dismisses Red Bull protest as petty and embarrassing
Photo: PHOTOSPORT Mercedes Formula One boss Toto Wolff has dismissed Red Bull's failed protest of George Russell's Canadian Grand Prix win as petty and embarrassing. Stewards threw out the protest some five and a half hours after the chequered flag came down on the race in Montreal on Monday. The team had accused Russell of unsportsmanlike behaviour, suggesting he had tried deliberately to get second placed Max Verstappen into trouble while the safety car was deployed, knowing the champion was at risk of a ban. "It took team Red Bull Racing two hours before they launched the protest, so that was in their doing. Honestly, it's so petty and so small," Wolff told Sky Sports television at the New York premiere of the Brad Pitt movie "F1" on Tuesday. "They've done it in Miami. Now they launched two protests. They took one back because it was ridiculous. "They [Red Bull] come up with some weird clauses, what they call clauses. I guess the FIA needs to look at that because it's so far-fetched it was rejected," added the Austrian. "You know, you race, you win and you lose on track. That was a fair victory for us, like so many they had in the past. And it's just embarrassing." Russell and four times world champion Verstappen have a long-standing rivalry and Red Bull have protested twice in the space of five races against the Mercedes driver. In Miami in May they protested the Briton's third place, arguing the driver had failed to slow when yellow flags were waved during a virtual safety car period. Verstappen was fourth that time. That protest was also rejected. The win in Canada was Mercedes' first in 10 races so far this season. Wolff, who has also had plenty of past run-ins with Horner, wondered who was behind the Red Bull protests but cleared Verstappen of any guilt. "I don't even know what you refer to as 'unsportsmanlike behaviour' or something. What is it all about? Who decides it? Because I'm 100 percent sure it's not Max, he's a racer. He would never go for a protest on such a trivial thing," he said. Horner said Red Bull had no regrets about the protest and were simply exercising their rights because they saw something they did not think was correct. The next race is in Austria at Red Bull's home circuit on June 29. - Reuters
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
'Tough, tough weekend' for Liam Lawson
New Zealand driver Liam Lawson at the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix. Photo: Reuters New Zealand driver Liam Lawson has had to endure another tough weekend in Formula One. Lawson failed to finish Monday's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. After qualifying at the back of the field, the young Kiwi was forced out with 14 laps remaining with technical issues with his Racing Bulls car. "It's just been a tough, tough weekend which is a shame," Lawson said afterwards. He was forced to start his first Canadian GP from pit lane after his team made changes to his power unit post qualifying. The 23-year-old was put on a one pit-stop strategy but was unable to make inroads on the field. He was eventually told to retire the car as it was suffering from cooling problems. It is the third race he's failed to finish this season. "It's disappointing, obviously it was going to be a very difficult race anyway from the pit lane. "We had a cooling issue at the end so unfortunately we had to retire." His Racing Bulls team-mate Isack Hadjar also struggled with pace and finished 16th, with just Lance Stroll behind him. "The hard fact is that we didn't have enough pace today to fight in the top 10," Team Principal Laurent Mekies said. "It's a tight battle in the midfield and even only one-tenth can make the difference, and today it was enough to drop back instead of attacking forward." By not picking up any points Racing Bulls slip further behind Williams in the Constructors' Championship and now sit in seventh place on the same points as Haas. With Fernando Alonso finishing seventh for Aston Martin they are now just six points behind Racing Bulls. Lawson is 18th in the Drivers' Championship with the four points he picked up with his eighth-place finish at Monaco. "We'll keep working on the speed and I'll keep working on myself to reset ahead of Austria," Lawson said. Round eleven is in Austria at the end of the month. "Looking back at the last few months, every single improvement we've made as a team has been made after tough weekends like this one in Canada. We certainly take some positives from this weekend and the fight is on, so we'll keep pushing all together," Mekies said.
