It’s been 18,880 days since a New Zealander last stood on a Formula One podium. That could change as early as Monday morning though, after Liam Lawson qualified third for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
More than 51 years on from Denny Hulme winning the Argentine Grand Prix in 1974, Lawson will start on the second row at the Baku City Circuit, in the best qualifying result of his Formula One career so far.
In a chaotic qualifying session that saw a record six red flags, Lawson didn’t put a foot wrong and bettered his French Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar, who qualified eighth.
That chaos, though, played into Lawson’s hands, as he was able to set a banker lap on used tyres in the third and final qualifying session (Q3), before resuming after the last red flag on a new set of softs to better his time on an improving track.
“The car’s been good all weekend,” Lawson told Sky Sports UK post-qualifying.
“When it needed to be in quali, it was good. Massive thanks to the guys and girls, the team’s been amazing this weekend so far.
“But, obviously, tomorrow is the important day.
“It’s going to be a very hard race, for sure. We have a great starting position, but we’re aware of who we’re fighting around us.
“That’s what we’ll be focused on.”
The Racing Bulls driver had finished inside the top 10 in all three of the weekend’s practice sessions, but went even better in qualifying to earn his third place on the grid.
Red Bull stablemate Max Verstappen claimed pole position, with a best lap of 1m 41.117s, 0.590s quicker than Lawson, while Carlos Sainz of Williams took second.
Lawson is joined on the second row by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who could face punishment for not following orders behind a red flag and see his starting position altered.
On a weekend where they can seal the constructors championship, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start seventh and ninth respectively, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took 10th and 12th.
Haas’ Esteban Ocon had qualified 18th, but was later disqualified for illegal flex on his rear wing.
Baku is the only circuit remaining on this year’s calendar that Lawson has not raced on in Formula One, however he did score a podium finish on his last visit, during the 2022 Formula Two season.
And at a time when he is fighting to secure his Formula One future, Lawson couldn’t have asked for a better chance at earning another podium on the streets of Baku.
As all 20 drivers left the garage at the earliest opportunity, given the high winds and risk of rain, it became imperative that Lawson set an early banker lap, to at the very least ensure a mark to put forward in the hunt for the top 10.
That first effort, 1m 42.448s, temporarily saw Lawson top the leaderboard in Q1, which had become fourth by the time the first session was red-flagged as Williams’ Alex Albon hit the wall at turn one.
Still, with 18 drivers having set a lap time at that point, Lawson was 1.4s clear of the drop zone with less than 12 minutes remaining.
Five minutes after the resumption, a second red flag was triggered when Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg hit the wall at turn four, as Lawson had fallen to seventh, 0.799s clear of elimination.
In the final minutes, Lawson was able to improve his lap time to 1m 42.257s despite brushing the wall, before Alpine’s Franco Colapinto hit the wall at turn four and triggered the third red flag of Q1.
Into the second session and another red flag was triggered by Haas’ Ollie Bearman making contact with the barrier at the exit of turn two before any driver could set a lap time.
After another delay, Lawson’s first lap of 1m 41.807s temporarily had him second, but he fell to eighth by the time he started his last effort, 0.160s clear of elimination.
Lawson was able to improve again, setting a lap time of 1m 41.537s to move seventh, and into Q3 with 0.320s to spare over Fernando Alonso.
With all four Red Bull-backed cars into Q3, the rain that was forecast began to arrive and Lawson was able to post a time on slick tyres as drivers further back battled low grip.
Seeking a fifth-straight pole position in Baku, Leclerc triggered the fifth red flag when he hit the wall at turn 15.
And after tying the record for most red flags in a single qualifying session, Baku 2025 claimed it outright when Piastri hit the wall at turn three, with just under four minutes left in the session.
At the time, Lawson and Hadjar sat second and third respectively, both with a new set of soft tyres to try to better their lap times.
Lawson did better his time, managing a lap of 1m 41.707s, but was knocked off the front row by Verstappen, as Hadjar qualified eighth.
Earlier, Lawson posted the ninth-fastest time of the day’s first session, despite spending the majority of FP3 on the hard tyres to replicate race conditions.
The Kiwi’s best lap of 1m 42.146s was down on his 1m 41.989s from FP2 on Friday, but he was able to add another 20 laps to his weekend’s work.
Norris set the fastest time of FP3 with a lap of 1m 41.223s, 0.923s quicker than Lawson and 0.254s ahead of McLaren teammate Piastri.
Lawson’s mark was 0.121s quicker than Hadjar as the Kiwi bettered his teammate in all three practice sessions.
The only hairy moment came at turn 16, where Lawson spun into the left-hander and was seen with flat spots on his front tyres as a result.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix begins at 11pm on Sunday.
Disqualified: Esteban Ocon – Haas
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.