Given the track at the Shanghai International Circuit had been relaid since last year, more than one driver had complained about a lack of grip during the weekend’s earlier practice session on Friday.
“I’m really sorry about that, but I could not keep the tyres down,” Lawson was heard saying on team radio.
This weekend is Lawson’s first time driving at Shanghai, as one of five rookie drivers making their first appearances at the circuit. Furthermore, the sprint weekend format meant the number of practice sessions for a standard Grand Prix is cut from three to one.
In the end, Lawson was 0.402s off the mark that would have seen him through to the second qualifying session, set by Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber.
Earlier, Lawson clocked the 18th fastest time in free practice as he continues to come to terms with Red Bull’s new RB21 car.
With just an hour of available track time, given the truncated nature of the sprint format, Lawson got through 23 laps, with a best time of 1m 33.631s – more than two seconds back from McLaren’s Norris, who set the fastest time of the session with 1m 31.504s.
Having backed Lawson after his struggles in Melbourne, team principal Christian Horner doubled down on his support for the Kiwi after the practice session.
“Obviously [it’s] Liam’s first time here, [he’s] feeling his way in,” said Horner. “It’s a tall order for him on a sprint weekend.
“But he’s got that information now, he’s done long runs and short runs, now it’s all about low fuel for the qualifying coming up. You’ve just got to pick yourself up and look at the positives. He had the second-fastest race lap.
“[It was] a very difficult weekend, keep your head down, don’t look on social media. Focus on the next race. We believe he’s got the ability, he just needs a bit of time.
“There’s no specific timeframe. We’re only at race two, it’s a circuit he’s never seen before. We have to be fair and give him time. He will get there, we just need to give him the backing and give him time.
“He’s in a highly-pressured seat, it doesn’t get any easier.”
Verstappen could only manage the 16th best time in practice and crossed the line with a best of 1m 33.145s.
However, Verstappen’s best times came on the slower medium compound, while Lawson’s fastest came on the soft tyres. In fact, when comparing the pair’s fastest times, Lawson was more than half a second off Verstappen in the third sector alone, and would have almost certainly gone quicker, were it not for aborting his final attempt at a timed lap.
Practice is never a guarantee of results on track given teams look to make use of the available time to trial different tyres, aerodynamic configurations, and fuel loads before qualifying.
Unlike Melbourne, Lawson and Verstappen ran the same nose and front wing configurations, after the Kiwi wasn’t afforded parity with his teammate at Albert Park.
After failing to finish last weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Lawson’s efforts to come to grips with the RB21 will continue into another weekend.
The car is notoriously designed to accentuate Verstappen’s strengths, even if it comes at the expense of his teammates – seen by the struggles of Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez before him.
As was the case with Melbourne, this was also Lawson’s first taste of the track, as one of the five rookies who hadn’t driven on the Shanghai International Circuit in the past – given China’s absence from the Formula One calendar during Covid-19.
In the opening laps, Lawson came off early at turn four, the end of the long left-hander into a right-hander – Formula One’s longest corner. However, the Kiwi driver can at the very least take solace in the fact Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc did the same, as did Alpine’s Jack Doohan – who caused a red flag with 13 minutes to go in the session.
The 19-lap sprint race takes place on Saturday afternoon, followed by qualifying for the Grand Prix on Saturday. Sunday’s Grand Prix is 56 laps.
Chinese Grand Prix sprint race starting grid
1. Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari
2. Max Verstappen - Red Bull
3. Oscar Piastri - McLaren
4. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
5. George Russell - Mercedes
6. Lando Norris - McLaren
7. Kimi Antonelli - Mercedes
8. Yuki Tsunoda - Racing Bulls
9. Alex Albon - Williams
10. Lance Stroll - Aston Martin
11. Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin
12. Ollie Bearman - Haas
13. Carlos Sainz - Williams
14. Gabriel Bortoleto - Sauber
15. Isack Hadjar - Racing Bulls
16. Jack Doohan - Apline
17. Pierre Gasly - Alpine
18. Esteban Ocon - Haas
19. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber
20. Liam Lawson - Red Bull
Alex Powell is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016 and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.
