Lawson “definitely pushing me” like Tsunoda used to

Isack Hadjar says his Racing Bulls Formula 1 team-mate Liam Lawson has had a smooth adaptation back to the Faenza-based squad following his Red Bull demotion – which the New Zealander agrees on.

Lawson outqualified Hadjar for the first time at last weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, outpacing the rookie by 0.010s in Q1 and 0.227s in Q2.

He eventually finished the race 11th on the road, just 1.4s away from Hadjar, though a 10-second penalty for overtaking Jack Doohan off the track at Turn 2 dropped him behind Fernando Alonso in the final classification.

“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 team-mate] was pushing me as well.”

Lawson was on the same strategy as most drivers – a first stint on medium tyres, then another on hards – but didn’t find it successful.

The 23-year-old was 12th early on, then overtook Alonso; following his pitstop he passed Gabriel Bortoleto, Doohan – controversially – Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll, but still finished the race in a similar position to lap 1, right behind Hadjar.

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

“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.”

However, after struggling so much over his only two grands prix at Red Bull, Lawson corroborated Hadjar’s analysis that he was now up to speed at Racing Bulls.

“I think this is the fastest we’ve been, but just unfortunately not enough,” he said, before being asked if he was now fully dialled in: “I think so. Obviously we didn’t quite have the speed of the top teams yesterday, so we’ll try and work on improving this for Miami.”

Meanwhile, Hadjar hailed a “perfect” race from himself, having secured 10th with the alternate hard/medium strategy.

However, he was left frustrated by spending the last 10 laps of the race stuck behind Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon despite his fresher, softer rubber.

“It was a perfect race, and to get only one point is a bit… harsh,” the 20-year-old said. “When I knew the two Williams were ahead of me after the pitstop, I knew I was… cooked.”

As for the way he bounced back after crashing out of the Australia season-opener before it even started, Hadjar explained: “It’s the love for racing. I just love it so much, just committed to it.

“That’s why a tough hit like Melbourne is not enough to bring me down, because I love driving and giving my best.”

Additional reporting by Filip Cleeren and Mark Mann-Bryans