Formula 1: Liam Lawson outqualifies Yuki Tsunoda, to start 14th in Miami Grand Prix sprint race

Liam Lawson will start 14th in Sunday’s Formula One Miami Grand Prix sprint race, and lamented his car’s performance after being eliminated in the second qualifying session.

In his first time driving at the Miami International Autodrome, the Kiwi posted a best time of 1m 28.375s, and missed out on a spot in the final qualifying session by 0.525s.

After progressing through the first sprint qualifying session (SQ1) with the 15th fastest time, Lawson was able to improve one place after Williams’ Carlos Sainz had a time deleted for track limits.

However, on-board vision showed Lawson slightly lose control at turn 17, which ultimately cost him the time needed to progress.

“My god, that was so bad,” Lawson was heard saying on his team radio.

“[It was] a very messy session,” he said post-sprint qualifying. “Quite different to P1 to be honest, we didn’t expect it to be so different.

“It’s a shame, the car wasn’t in a bad place this morning. But we just fought the balance a lot more in quali. It’s a shame.

“We have a race tomorrow to try and work some more stuff out, we have this session to debrief on and analyse for tomorrow and try and put ourselves in a better place for the race.”

The result is still, by proxy, Lawson’s best result in a sprint qualifying this season after starting last in China for Red Bull.

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the first time in his young Formula One career, getting across the line in 1m 26.482s.

At 18, that makes Antonelli the youngest driver to take pole position – be it for a sprint or Grand Prix – in Formula One history.

Antonelli is so young he won’t be able to take part in the celebratory champagne if he can turn that pole position into victory on Sunday morning because of US alcohol laws.

World championship leader Oscar Piastri was 0.045s back to take second, while McLaren teammate Lando Norris was third.

Fresh from welcoming his first child, reigning world champion Max Verstappen was fourth, 0.255s off Antonelli’s fastest lap.

Meanwhile, Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar will start ninth, putting in a best time of 1m 27.543s, 0.832s quicker than his teammate.

Lawson’s starting position could come under scrutiny, though, after Alpine’s Jack Doohan claimed to have been impeded by the Kiwi in his release from the garage before the first session.

After setting a first time of 1m 28.914s, Lawson sat 15th after the first qualifying runs, and was the last car to reach the second qualifying stage.

That, though, came at the expense of Red Bull stablemate Yuki Tsunoda, who was held up by teammate Verstappen, and could only set the 18th fastest time, with a 1m 29.246s – his first Q1 exit of 2025.

Lawson could have posted a faster time in the opening session, but briefly lost control of his car at the turn 14 chicane.

Perhaps looking to save tyres, given another full round of qualifying on Sunday, Lawson was only able to log one lap in SQ2 and was released from the garage with less than two minutes left in the session.

Given that lack of time on track, Lawson was only able to post a 1m 28.375s – one thousandth of a second slower than what he’d managed in practice.

The Miami sprint race gets under way at 4am on Sunday, before Grand Prix qualifying at 8am.

Earlier, Lawson logged the 11th fastest lap in the sole practice.

Being a sprint weekend, the 20 drivers are limited to just one free practice session for the entirety of the Grand Prix, with a shorter 19-lap affair on Sunday to complement the 57-lap race on Monday morning (NZ time).

In Lawson’s first time racing in Miami, in Racing Bulls’ one-off pink livery for this weekend, he logged a vital 20 laps and put in a best time of 1m 28.374s.

Interestingly, Lawson did not log any laps on the medium tyre, which is expected to feature heavily in the sprint and the Grand Prix.

However, a late red flag caused by Haas’ Ollie Bearman crashing out resulted in multiple drivers finishing their session’s work without setting a flying lap.

Hadjar continued to impress in his rookie Formula One season and crossed the line with a fastest time of 1m 27.968s to finish fifth. That effort was 0.406s faster than the Kiwi.

Promisingly, Lawson improved during the hour-long session. Starting on hard tyres, Lawson was able to improve in pace as his first stint went on. From a best timed lap of 1m 31.852s, the Kiwi was able to better his time to 1m 29.807s in his first 11 laps of the session.

That first stint, though, was 1.292s off the early pace, set by Mercedes’ George Russell.

With just over 30 minutes to go in the session, Lawson returned to track on another set of hard tyres and again improved his best time by logging a lap of 1m 29.350s.

In the final 10 minutes, as teams set their focus to logging the fastest possible lap, Lawson and Hadjar fitted a sole set of soft tyres, as Lawson – naturally – went quicker than he’d done on the hards.

In 2024, Daniel Ricciardo achieved Racing Bulls’ best result of the season in the Miami sprint race, qualifying and finishing fourth.

Miami Grand Prix sprint race starting grid

1. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes
2. Oscar Piastri – McLaren
3. Lando Norris – McLaren
4. Max Verstappen – Red Bull
5. George Russell – Mercedes
6. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
7. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari
8. Alex Albon – Williams
9. Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls
10. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
11. Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber
12. Esteban Ocon – Haas
13. Pierre Gasly – Alpine
14. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls
15. Carlos Sainz – Williams
16. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
17. Jack Doohan – Alpine
18. Yuki Tsunoda – Red Bull
19. Gabriel Bortoleto – Sauber
20. Ollie Bearman – Haas

Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.