Lawson takes late penalty hit for Australian GP

Liam Lawson has taken a late grid penalty - two minutes after the FIA confirmed the final starting grid.

As per the regulations, the FIA always announce the official grid for a race an hour before the scheduled start.

That was the case for the race at Melbourne's Albert Park but just two minutes later the FIA announced a penalty for Red Bull's Lawson.

The New Zealander, who has endured a wretched first weekend on his debut for Red Bull, was due to start 18th after mistakes in qualifying resulted in a surprising exit from Q1.

But the team has opted to make late adjustments to the RB21, meaning Lawson will now join Haas driver Ollie Bearman in making a pit lane start.

A report from technical delegate Jo Bauer read: "The rear wing and beam wing of car number 30 were changed to ones of a different specification.

"Therefore car number 30 should now be required to start the Race from the pit lane according to Article 40.9 a) of the 2025 Formula One Sporting Regulations."