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

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:

NB. Leclerc, Hamilton and Gasly were disqualified

2025 Chinese Grand Prix

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