Christian Horner has backed Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar to recover from a difficult Australian Grand Prix that saw both drivers fail to reach the chequered flag.

Lawson, who replaced Sergio Perez at Red Bull, suffered a torrid weekend, failing to reach the second session of qualifying before crashing out of the race on lap 47. 

For Hadjar, meanwhile, he failed to complete the formation lap as he spun into the barriers, leaving the 20-year-old in tears as he returned to the paddock. 

Red Bull did have a strong race from reigning world champion Max Verstappen, who finished second to McLaren's Lando Norris. 

Up next is the Chinese Grand Prix this Sunday, with Horner confident Lawson can bounce back, but said it would be difficult given it is a sprint weekend. 

"It was a difficult weekend for him," conceded the Red Bull Team Principal when asked about Lawson. "We changed the car to put a bit more downforce on the car.

"It’s a very hard track to overtake on. We took the risk of leaving him out longer because he was out of the points, and we thought, 'you know what, roll the dice, and maybe it will come right' at exactly the point it started to rain more, so it's difficult to blame him for that last bit.

"I think the one flash of light that he can take out of it is that, on the dry tyres, he actually posted the second-fastest lap time of the grand prix with a 22.9. 

"So if there was one positive we can take, it was that his pace on the dry was not too bad. "The problem is that missing P3, you're on the back foot and then the pressure builds.

"He grabbed a brake on the second set of tyres and then the third, he was half a second up before another mistake there.

"I think next weekend will be tough because it's a sprint race at a track that he's not been to before, but he's pretty resilient and this weekend wasn't representative of what he's capable of."

An eventful season opener

Max fought hard and kicked off the season with a strong P2

While tough weather conditions cut Liam’s race short. But, there is plenty to build on, onto the next! #F1 || #AusGP pic.twitter.com/5gtTFFpf6x

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 16, 2025

For Hadjar, the weekend had been a largely impressive first impression in Formula One, as he narrowly missed out on a top-10 berth in qualifying.

This made him the fastest rookie driver over a single lap, a position he had also held in two of the three practice sessions.

But a sudden loss of grip as he tapped the throttle at turn 2 on the formation lap ensured that his debut would not be remembered for his turn of speed, but for his tearful pre-race exit that saw Anthony Hamilton, father of seven-time world champion Lewis, console him in the paddock.

"It was quite heart-wrenching to see him so gutted," reflected Horner. "His first grand prix.

"I think the positives that he needs to take out of it when he reflects on the weekend, it that he actually performed very well through the practices and the qualifying.

"You forget that these guys are just kids really, and, obviously, there's a lot of emotion for him.

"But when he strips it back, there's an awful lot of positives that he can take out of the weekend. He's got many bright days ahead of him."