Lawson crashed out of Sunday’s race in Albert Park in what was his first appearance for Red Bull.

It was the conclusion of a tough weekend for the New Zealander who struggled for pace on Friday before being hit with reliability issues ahead of qualifying.

Mistakes in the all-important qualifying hour left him only 18th on the grid and prompted Red Bull to change his car and have him start from the pit lane instead.

A tough race then followed, with overtaking difficult at the best of times about the Melbourne F1 venue, though he did briefly benefit from a strategy gamble.

By electing not to pit for intermediate tyres as late rain hit the circuit, Lawson gained track position but was ultimately caught out as he rounded Turn 1 in the closing stages.

“I don’t think after one race we go into a spiral,” Lawson declared ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.

“Obviously we all have high expectations anyway, and Melbourne was below mine.

“We’re just hoping to have a good weekend.”

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The Chinese Grand Prix marks the first Sprint event of the season, giving drivers just a single practice session ahead of Sprint Qualifying on Friday afternoon.

Lawson has never visited the Shanghai circuit before, a track that has been completely resurfaced since last year.

It leaves both the driver and team stepping into the unknown when cars roll out for Free Practice 1 later today.

“Each day I drive the car I get more comfortable,” Lawson said.

“We didn’t have a super clean test in Bahrain and then obviously we had some difficulties in practice in Melbourne.

“That’s really your prep for the weekend, for qualifying, for the race, it’s where you basically learn and adjust everything.

“Obviously having one [practice session] this weekend is going to be tough, but we all have one, so we’ll all be dealing with the same thing.

“It’s how you maximise those practice sessions because you don’t want to go into a qualifying session or a race feeling like there’s something unknown that you haven’t discovered yet – which is how Melbourne was a little bit.

“So the practice we have this weekend and the Sprint race, it’s obviously still points, but it’s a chance to learn more before the main race.”

Opening practice for the Chinese Grand Prix begins at 14:30 AEDT today ahead of Sprint Qualifying at 18:30 AEDT.

2025 F1 Chinese Grand Prix – Start time, how to watch, TV times & more