Formula 1: Liam Lawson’s teammate Isack Hadjar noticing Kiwi’s improvements after tough return to Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar believes the Kiwi has finally adjusted to his new car after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Lawson crossed the line 11th at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, just 1.4s back from Hadjar, but a 10-second time penalty for overtaking Jack Doohan dropped the 23-year-old one spot down the grid.

Hadjar finished 10th to claim points for the second time this season.

It was Lawson’s third race with Racing Bulls, having been demoted from Red Bull after just two races this season in Australia and China.

Hadjar was the better of the two drivers in Japan and Bahrain, but Lawson appeared to show his true qualities for the first time this season.

For just the second time in his career and first since Singapore 2023, Lawson outqualified his teammate.

“This weekend he was really, really fast,” Hadjar said of Lawson.

“In qualifying, he made the most of the car.

“He’s definitely getting stronger now, definitely pushing me just like Yuki [Tsunoda, his previous teammate] was pushing me as well.”

 Lawson will be eager to start converting his opportunities into points, with the next race taking place in Miami next month.

Along with the penalty, strategy seemed costly with his first stint on medium tyres, and his second on hards.

Lawson agreed, saying he was starting to feel more comfortable in the car.

“I didn’t have a great start,” said Lawson. “[I was in the] wrong place on the first lap, when everything happened.

“It’s a shame. The car was pretty quick. We just spent the whole race in traffic again. It’s a shame.

“This weekend’s been the most comfortable I’ve been in the car - I just want some points.

“We’re doing all the right things, it just needs to come together.”

His time penalty also drew some questions.

Lawson got past his Australian counterpart heading into turn one on lap 28 of 50 in the race, moving from 15th to 14th. He had completed the overtake before coming to the turn but went into the turn with too much speed and had to go off the track.

Documents from ruling body the FIA explaining the ruling said that moment was deemed to have affected the overtake and the stewards handed him his third time penalty in two races.

The ruling has drawn some criticism, particularly after Red Bull ace Max Verstappen was given a lesser penalty for a similar incident early in the race.

“Unfortunately, my [strategy] didn’t work today, we spent the race overtaking cars,” said Lawson.

“The end of our race was absolutely flat out, trying to make a 10-second gap to Fernando, but it wasn’t for the points anyway. It’s a shame we just ended up on the wrong end of it today.

“I think this is the fastest we’ve been, but just unfortunately not enough. Obviously, we didn’t quite have the speed of the top teams yesterday, so we’ll try and work on improving this for Miami.”

Formula One is currently on a two-week break, before returning for Miami from May 3 (NZ time).

Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.