Lawson dealt “karma” for Racing Bulls F1 radio complaint

Liam Lawson reflected he was struck by “karma” in the Chinese Grand Prix after complaining about Racing Bulls team-mate Arvid Lindblad moments before pitting.

In the early stages of Sunday’s race in Shanghai, Lindblad, who had started on hard tyres, was closing on Lawson, whose medium rubber was fading.

When Lindblad attempted a failed move into the Turn 14 hairpin, Lawson came across the team radio, complaining that the Racing Bulls pair would both lose time if this continued.

Lawson soon pitted for fresh tyres, but less than a lap later, the safety car was deployed after Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin came to a halt, gifting the rest of the field a cheap stop and costing the New Zealander multiple positions.

“I was trying to box,” said Lawson, when asked by Crash.net about the radio exchange.

“He had a train of cars behind him, and if he got me, I was probably going to get done by two or three more, so I was trying not to lose too much time. In the end, we boxed right before the safety car, which was probably karma.”

Lawson's F1 redemption

The start of the 2026 season has been a stark contrast to the first two events last season, where a pair of disastrous results saw Lawson lose his Red Bull seat to Yuki Tsunoda.

This time around, a zero score in Australia was followed by seventh-place finishes in both the sprint and Grand Prix in China, putting Lawson ninth in the drivers’ standings, and on double the number of points as his rookie team-mate.

“For the speed we had this weekend, it’s very, very positive,” said Lawson. “We definitely didn’t expect to have two points finishes after sprint qualifying and qualifying on Saturday, especially, so very happy.”

Lawson’s eight points also puts him level with Max Verstappen, and four clear of Isack Hadjar, who currently holds the second Red Bull seat. In the constructors’ battle, while the two Red Bull-owned teams are tied on points, it is Red Bull that places higher, by virtue of Verstappen’s sixth place finish in Australia.