Liam Lawson confused by bizarre Red Bull pace struggle

Liam Lawson was at a loss to explain Red Bull's lack of pace in Melbourne after an underwhelming first day to the 2025 F1 season.

The New Zealander, in what is as close to a home grand prix as he has, struggled to match the pace of team-mate Max Verstappen.

Finishing FP1 almost eight-tenths of a second off the Dutchman and down in P16, things did not get much better for the 23-year-old in the second and final hour of running.

With the field focused on short runs, Lawson was still almost six tenths adrift of the four-time F1 drivers' champion. Worst still, he was only P17 after the session, 10 spots behind Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver maintained he and the Milton Keynes-based squad expected somewhat of a learning curve, given it is his first time racing at Albert Park, but conceded the extent of the lacking performance had caught him off guard.

"Comfortable - just too slow," Lawson said to sum up his opening two sessions of the Australian Grand Prix. "We obviously have a lot of work to do overnight.

"Day one on a new track, we're expecting to have some work to do, but probably not this much, so we'll obviously work on it overnight and try and improve it for tomorrow."

Short and long-run pain for Lawson and Red Bull

However, Lawson was unsure as to why he and the team found getting up to speed in Melbourne more difficult than anticipated.

"Not really," he replied when asked if he knew what caused it to be tougher than expected. "I think if we knew that, we'd know how to fix it as well."

Lawson explained that it was not merely the short or long-run form of his RB21 that was a cause for concern, but both that had the six-time constructors' champion team scratching its head.

"In general, just grip, when we needed to use it on that short run, but then in general, our long-run pace was slow as well," he added. "So, we'll work on it."

Below is the long-run data for the entire field from FP2 in Melbourne and the push lap data.