Interview
‘It’s about picking yourself up’ – Block insists there was ‘huge potential’ in Shanghai as she reflects on salvaging points
Lia Block was glad to put the first weekend of the 2025 season behind her after the Williams driver endured a disheartening outing in Shanghai from her opening lap.
No sooner had she hit the track in Practice, Block found herself out of the session following contact from Racing Bulls’ Rafaela Ferreira. Heavy damage necessitated a chassis change and Block was resigned to watching Qualifying on the sidelines from the ART Grand Prix pit wall.
Entering the unknown in both races, she narrowly missed out on a point in Race 1 but made the same headway in Race 2 to finish inside the points in P9. A frustrating opening round was amplified by the fact that Block felt she could have been in the mix with the leading group.
“I absolutely think there was a huge potential for a big result,” she said. "I had done lots of work in the off season and especially in the test in Jerez and Shanghai before the race. I felt good, I felt confident, I was turning in good laps and some good results in those tests.
“I felt like all the pieces were in place and I did all I could to be the best prepared for that first Qualifying session. So, I think it will definitely come in Jeddah and throughout the season. We just have to revisit the goals and we go again and try to set pole in Jeddah.”
Overcoming the disadvantage of her lack of mileage, Block was content to have recouped points that looked almost impossible post-Qualifying and sees Jeddah as an opportunity to bring herself into the fight at the front of the field.
“Shanghai was definitely not the start to a season that we would have liked," the American admitted. "I felt like the whole pre-season had been really positive. We worked on a lot of things behind the scenes — driving physical, mentally — so I felt very prepared going into Shanghai.
“When you get taken out on your first lap of Free Practice, it was very disappointing. Honestly, I was very upset and let myself be upset for about 30 minutes. It really sucks to hear that your car is so messed up that you can't do Qualifying and it's even more disappointing that it was out of your control.
“I just try to turn it around and think ahead to the long-term. It's about picking yourself up and going again, so that's what I tried to do going into the two races. It was definitely hard not knowing the track since testing and the first lap of Round 1 was my first lap since the last day of testing.
“It was definitely a difficult one trying to balance all the cars around you as well as trying to get used to the new setup on the car, the track and how it's going to work with the grip of F1. I fought back and made it up to ninth in both races. Honestly, I’m not super happy with that but I'm happy that we salvaged some points. It's a long season, so we have 12 more races, anything can happen.”