After edging out Yuki Tsunoda for one of F1’s most sought-after seats, Liam Lawson has struggled to get anywhere near his teammate, Max Verstappen, putting him under immense pressure. Thankfully, he has his girlfriend’s support to rebuild his confidence and bounce back, even from thousands of miles away.
Hannah St. John, who has been in a relationship with the Kiwi driver since 2022 could not travel to Shanghai to watch him in action. She was in California, attending a Kelsea Ballerini concert.
Not to say that a five-time Grammy-nominated artist’s performances were boring, but Hannah felt the need to see something faster and more thrilling. Or at least, an excuse to watch Lawson in action at the sprint race in China.
So, there she sat—6,305 miles away—watching on as Lawson lined up P19 for the first sprint of the weekend. “Priorities”, she wrote on her Instagram story, which captured her, eyes glued to F1 action on her mobile device.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the spectacular outing Lawson or St. John would have been hoping for. Starting so far back in the order, there was little he could do. The 23-year-old showed decent pace to overtake a few (arguably slower) cars ahead but the best Lawson could manage was P14.
From Red Bull’s perspective, these aren’t satisfactory results.
An eventful sprint race for Max and Liam today.
Max takes P3 with Liam making mega overtakes to bring home P14
Result HAM, PIA, MAX, RUS, LEC, TSU, ANT, NOR, ALO. Liam P14.#F1 || #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/DTV0n3QM6D
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 22, 2025
Red Bull’s top brass is notorious for sacking drivers mid-season, and with 22 race weekends still to go for Lawson to prove his worth, there’s likely a hint of tension in his camp. Hannah probably sensed that too, which might be another reason why watching her boyfriend perform was a priority.
While the New Zealander did pull off some strong overtakes, he will be hoping for a much stronger performance in Sunday’s Grand Prix. This time, Hannah will be cheering for the 23-year-old as he hopefully battles at the sharper end of the grid.
For that, though, Lawson will have to qualify higher up on Saturday afternoon. So far, in the two qualifying sessions he has been been part of with Red Bull, he has been knocked out of Q1 itself. So, the #30 driver first needs to make amends for that and then look to put on a strong showing on Sunday.
