Explained: Why Lawson 'prohibition' failure led to season first

04/18/2025 12:55 PM

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix stewards felt compelled to hand Liam Lawson his first reprimand of the F1 season after both he and Racing Bulls committed basic errors. Lawson was warned after two breaches of race director Rui Marques' event notes, which specifically stated drivers are not to enter the painted area between the pit entry and the track. The New Zealander did so on two occasions in a matter of minutes during the first practice session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The first offence earned Lawson a warning; however, given the second was in such proximity to the first, and given the excuses aired by the team and driver, the stewards decided to hand the 23-year-old the reprimand. The stewards made it clear in their judgment that both the Racing Bulls team on the pit wall and Lawson were at fault. "It was made clear in the event notes that no part of the tyre must cross the line in any direction," said the stewards' statement. "There is no doubt that this prohibition was breached for a second time. "We checked the team radio and it appears that despite the notification that the alleged breach was noted by race control at 16:48:30, the driver was not warned of this. "There were at least three laps in between the first infringement and the second where the team could have reminded the driver of the prohibition in the race director's event notes, and it appears that they did not do so. "This was confirmed by the team representative during the hearing. He said that the team chose not to inform the driver as he was on a push lap, and the second infringement happened before they ultimately warned him when he returned to the garage. "Notwithstanding the team's decision not to warn the driver, the driver ought to know what is in the event notes, and Lawson confirmed that he did know of the prohibition. "Although this was during free practice, the race director's event notes were clear, and because this was a second infringement of a stated prohibition, we imposed a reprimand (driving)."