Liam Lawson at Austin's Circuit of the Americas. Photo / Red Bull
Liam Lawson will start 15th in Formula One’s US Grand Prix sprint race, after the Kiwi’s final timed lap was deleted at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.
The Racing Bulls driver had been seeking a first top-10 start in a sprint race, but stayed in the garage too long in the second sprint qualifying session (SQ2), and was only left with one lap to try to set as fast a time as possible.
However, with seconds remaining in the session, Lawson ran wide at a corner, resulting in his lap time being deleted for track limits infringements, sending him to the back of the grid in SQ2 and condemning the Kiwi to starting 15th.
Lawson’s misfortune came at turn 19, where the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was on a cooldown lap in the middle of the track and forced the Racing Bulls driver to take evasive action.
“What the f*** was that?” Lawson was heard asking on his team radio.
“We took the risk, trying to do one lap,” he added after qualifying.
“It’s frustrating, because the car was very fast. We only did one lap in Q1, and it was strong enough. It’s positive for tomorrow, but it’s going to be a tough sprint race from where we are.”
Lawson had been sitting 11th, and would have therefore missed out on reaching the final session regardless, albeit after losing crucial time in the incident on turn 19.
If there’s any solace for Lawson, though, Red Bull promotion rival Yuki Tsunoda could only manage 18th after he was unable to set a final lap time in SQ1, while Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar will start 12th.
This race weekend is one of two remaining, before Red Bull’s self-imposed deadline to finalise its 2026 driver pairings.
Eyeing a third straight victory in a US Grand Prix sprint race, Max Verstappen will start from pole position, as he makes a last-ditch attempt to win the world championship from either of the McLaren cars.
Lando Norris had led every session of the first day of the race weekend, until he was pipped by Verstappen, and will instead start second, with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in third.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was the surprise package of the day, and qualified fourth.
Starting on medium tyres, Lawson’s first lap of SQ1 1m 34.603s shot him to the top of the standings – albeit with 11 drivers yet to set a time.
Once all drivers had posted their first times, with the exception of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto – whose effort was deleted for track limits infringements – Lawson had fallen to sixth, but was still 0.744s clear of the drop zone.
That time would have to be enough, as Lawson wasn’t able to return to the track on time, and could not start a final lap before the end of the session.
However, Lawson needn’t have worried, as the drivers behind weren’t able to improve their times enough to eliminate the Kiwi, who progressed with the 10th-best time, with 0.556s up his sleeve.
Tsunoda wasn’t as fortunate, and was eliminated in 18th place, having also left the garage too late, as he and Lawson came wheel to wheel in the opening sector to fight for track position.
Into SQ2, Lawson again stayed in the garage and only gave himself just shy of four minutes to try to break into the top 10 of a sprint session for the first time this year.
With one lap to work with, Lawson went wide at turn two and again at turn 19 – his effort was deleted and the Kiwi was condemned to starting 15th.
Last year, Lawson also qualified 15th for the US Grand Prix sprint race, but finished 16th after he was passed by Piastri, who went from 16th to 10th over the 19 laps.
Earlier, Lawson was 15th-fastest in the weekend’s only practice session, 1.325s off the pace set by Norris.
However, Lawson did not make use of the soft tyre – understandable given drivers had to save sets for the sprint and grand prix qualifying – and put in a best lap of 1m 34.619s.
That mark put the Kiwi 0.464s back from Hadjar in ninth, and 0.088s behind Tsunoda in 13th. Tsunoda, though, was able to run a set of soft tyres, while Lawson’s best effort came on the mediums.
Norris’ session leading time had him 0.255s quicker than Hulkenberg in second, and 0.279s faster than Piastri in third.
The US Grand Prix sprint race begins at 6am on Sunday, before Grand Prix qualifying at 10am.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.