Red Bull hit with deleted lap FIA ruling at Chinese Grand Prix

The FIA have revealed some deleted lap times from the Chinese Grand Prix, with Red Bull subject to an official verdict.

An FIA document revealed that Liam Lawson was among six drivers to have had a lap deleted during sprint qualifying for exceeding the time limit between the safety car lines set by the stewards before the session.

Lawson struggled once again with his new team on the first day of action at the Chinese GP, and is set to start Saturday's sprint race from last position.

Despite Sergio Perez's qualifying struggles in 2024, a Red Bull was not seen in last position in either sprint qualifying or main race qualifying throughout the whole season, highlighting Lawson's dismal day.

His team-mate Max Verstappen, meanwhile, qualified for the sprint race up in second position, and will start on the front row alongside 2021 championship rival Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull star set to start last

Lawson did not manage to score any points on his Red Bull debut in Australia, and faces a huge task to be able to do that across the 100km sprint race on Saturday.

Alongside Lawson, a number of other big names had lap times deleted for the same infringement, including Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Lawson's former team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, faced an official investigation for allegedly driving unnecessarily slowly in sprint qualifying, and was summoned by the FIA post-session.

An official FIA document cleared the driver of any wrongdoing with an explanation for the decision given by the stewards.

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