Lawson Speaks Up After Q1 Exit In Disastrous Australian GP Qualifying

Liam Lawson will start the Australian Grand Prix from 18th after an early exit from Qualifying. 

The Kiwi ran into issues during the third and final practice which resulted in him missing the majority of the session while the Red Bull team worked on the car. Although the team was able to get the RB21 ready in time, Lawson ran wide at Turn 3, which ended up being detrimental to his qualifying session.

While speaking to the media after the Q1 exit, Lawson explained:

“We expected the start of Quali to be tough. To be honest, the first laps were expected to be off, and then we were just planning on building through the session. But obviously going off on that second lap put everything out of order a bit.

“And then [the] last lap was good, honestly, just until the last sector where I had a big drop so yeah missing P3 obviously doesn’t help any of this, but I shouldn’t be going off in Quali.”

When asked where he was before the issue, Lawson explained:

“So before Turn 9, we were about half a second up. I’d already had a snap at Turns 9 and 10.

“I think tyres were already starting to drop there, so that’s something we’ve been battling this weekend and something that we missed practicing in P3. I haven’t really done much high-fuel running. I think we feel we have found improvements with the car regardless of this. Obviously, Max is in a very good position so we have definitely made a step.”

In a separate interview with the media, including Motorsport.com, Lawson explained:

“I think we made a big step today, or at least Max said this morning the car was in a better window, which was positive. I think obviously, for me not doing the laps made it pretty tough.

“It’s not like this car’s way harder to drive, and that’s why I made mistakes. I think it’s a tough track, lack of lack of driving and then being stupid looking forward to the rain tomorrow.

“I would love some rain, I think it’s hard to overtake, so where we’re starting, if it’s dry, it’s gonna be pretty hard, so rain would be nice.”

Lawson has not raced at Albert Park before so the lack of running time will leave him on the back foot for the Grand Prix tomorrow.

Speaking prior to qualifying, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko explained:

“For Lawson, though, it’s extremely difficult because he hasn’t been able to test the changes we made to the car. He’ll have to rely entirely on Max’s setup.”