Lawson was classified 16th in Bahrain, one position up from where he took the chequered flag courtesy of Nico Hulkenberg’s disqualification.
It was a combative performance with the Racing Bulls pilot colliding with both Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll during the 57-lap race, receiving penalties for both.
Without the additional 15 seconds to his race time, Lawson might have finished 13th, ahead of teammate Isack Hadjar.
“From where we were starting it was going to be hard, but we got stuck the whole race,” Lawson said.
“I felt the only way you could overtake was having a lunge from quite far back.
“I need to review the incidents,” he added of the clashes with Stroll and Hulkenberg.
“I don’t remember too much about that. It’s a shame, but we weren’t on for points anyway.”
The contact with Stroll was minor as they navigated Turn 2 and resulted in a five-second penalty and a single penalty point.
The Hulkenberg incident was more egregious. Lawson skated wide of the Turn 1 apex, where he contacted the Sauber.
That resulted in a 10-second penalty and two penalty points, taking his total to five for the 12-month period.
It capped off an underwhelming race for Lawson, who traced his issues back to Qualifying on Saturday.
“When you don’t have DRS, it’s kind of pretty limiting in quali,” he reasoned.
“When you’re out of position it’s… Today there was some overtaking [but] it wasn’t as easy as maybe people expected – maybe as we expected as well.
“We were certainly able to move forward and close in on the back end of the points until we got the penalty.”
Four races into the 2025 season, Lawson is one of four drivers yet to score a championship point, the others being Fernando Alonso, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Jack Doohan.
His best result remains 14th in the Japanese Grand Prix.
It’s left the 23-year-old frustrated given the potential in the car for more.
“They were both pretty tough, not super fun,” Lawson said of his two since rejoining Racing Bulls.
“I’d love a good result.
“The biggest shame is that the car was fast all weekend,” he added of Bahrain.
“Car was fast in quali, car was fast in the race, especially the last 10 [laps] on the soft [tyre].
“We’re just coming from so far back.”
While Lawson is near the bottom of the drivers’ championship standings, Racing Bulls is eighth, one point off the bottom of the constructors’ championship table.
Formula 1 heads to Saudi Arabia this weekend for the final leg in the current triple header.
On-track action in Jeddah begins on Friday.
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