Liam Lawson enjoyed an improved day at Formula One’s Qatar Grand Prix, capped off by posting the 12th fastest time in qualifying at the Losail Circuit.
After struggling on Friday, with the 17th-fastest time in qualifying for the sprint race, Lawson was a credible 14th over the 19 lap affair, before achieving his best start in Qatar.
Despite missing a place in the top 10 by just 0.083s, starting 12th sees Lawson better his starting 18th in the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, and the 17th he achieved at the same track last year.
What’s more, Lawson also outqualified Red Bull rival Yuki Tsunoda - who was eliminated in the first session of qualifying (Q1) for the third grand prix in a row - at a time where both drivers await their futures being officially locked in for next season.
“[The car felt] very sensitive for us this weekend,” said Lawson after qualifying.
“We’re trying to make it a little bit easier from yesterday. The car was in a much better window today.
“We ended Q1 in a very comfortable place. Unfortunately, very small changes just seemed to make it tricky to drive, and we barely improved in Q2.
“It’s frustrating, but a very small step from yesterday.
“We’ll try and move forward. Our race pace today was very good, we just needed to qualify better. This hasn’t helped that.”
In the race for the world title, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took the most from the day.
As well as winning the sprint, the Australian also claimed pole position for the grand prix, giving him the opportunity to complete the weekend with a full set of 33 points.
McLaren teammate and championship leader Lando Norris settled for second after a late error left him with one fewer attempt at a final qualifying lap, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen starts third.
With two grands prix to go this season, Norris leads Piastri by 22 points, and Verstappen by 25 points at the top of the standings.
Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar will start sixth after another impressive qualifying display, with his promotion to Red Bull understood to be imminent.
Looking to escape Q1 in Qatar for the first time in his career, Lawson’s first lap of 1m 21.681s had him inside the top 10 to start the session, albeit without all 20 drivers having set their opening marks.
By the time Lawson returned to the track for his second lap, he’d fallen to 13th, just 0.243s clear of elimination. With the track improving beneath him, Lawson went faster to record a lap of 1m 21.031s, as Hadjar went top by posting 1m 20.603s.
Lawson needed to improve again, though, as the Kiwi slipped down to 16th as other cars went quicker after him. With less than three minutes left in Q1, Lawson had one last attempt to clear elimination, and responded with a lap of 1m 20.539s to advance with the seventh-best time of the session.
Into Q2, Lawson’s first lap - 1m 20.584 - was marginally slower than the one he escaped Q1 with, leaving him at risk of missing out on the top 10.
As Lawson began his last lap, on a new set of soft tyres, Lawson had fallen to 12th. And while he improved his time to 1m 20.433s - his best of the weekend - Lawson was 0.083s away from his teammate in 10th.
Earlier, no driver made more overtakes than Lawson over the course of the sprint race - one of four to make up two places - as the Kiwi moved from 16th to 14th.
Piastri led from lights out to the chequered flag after securing pole position a day earlier, and wiped two points from Norris’ advantage, who himself finished where he started in third.
Verstappen advanced from sixth to fourth over the course of the sprint, but now trails Norris by an additional point. Hadjar came home ninth to miss the points by one place.
With opportunities to overtake difficult in Qatar, Lawson did well to gain two positions on the opening lap and got around the Haas of Esteban Ocon and Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg into turn one.
Lawson stayed on the heels of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who himself fell from ninth to 13 in the early stages. The Kiwi remained within one second of the Ferrari - therefore able to use his Drag Reduction System (DRS) - but was forced to be patient to attempt an overtake.
On lap 11, Lawson saw his chance when Leclerc left the track at turn 10, and lost a place to the Kiwi. However, out of caution of further action, Racing Bulls deemed Lawson gained an unfair advantage by leaving the track himself to complete the overtake, and was ordered to give the place back.
And as Leclerc pushed his advantage beyond one second by the end of lap 14, there was no further chance for Lawson to progress higher before the finish.
The Qatar Grand Prix begins at 5am on Monday.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.