For the third race in a row, Liam Lawson will start inside the top 10, after qualifying eighth for Formula One’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Fresh from points finishes in both Belgium and Hungary before the summer break, and having scored every time he’s started inside the top 10 this season, Lawson was part of a standout day for Racing Bulls, highlighted by teammate Isack Hadjar qualifying fourth.
Perhaps frustratingly for Lawson, though, his best qualifying time came in the second session (Q2) and would have seen him start seventh, had he posted it in the third, with a difference of 0.378s.
“It’s good to be in Q3, but it was very promising there throughout qualifying,” Lawson said.
“I don’t really know why, but we went slower in Q3. [There’s] some stuff to look into.
“We were feeling pretty good after Q2. Naturally everyone makes a step in Q3, and we didn’t.
“[It’s] frustrating, we had good potential. We need a good start and to try and stay where we are.
“It’s going to be a hard race for sure, it’s very physical here. It’s probably going to be a long day.”
Hadjar’s position is a huge boost for the French rookie, who has not scored a point in a Grand Prix since Barcelona earlier this year.
Regardless, while Lawson will be disappointed to be starting behind his teammate, eighth is a vast improvement from the Kiwi’s last visit to Zandvoort, when he started last after being shoehorned into the then AlphaTauri car after injury to Daniel Ricciardo.
Still, that race saw Lawson make his way up the field to finish 13th in his first taste of Formula One.
On a day where both McLaren drivers broke the Zandvoort lap record, it was Oscar Piastri who took pole position, as his best time of 1m 8.66s was enough to hold off the challenge of his teammate Lando Norris, who was 0.012s behind.
Since Zandvoort returned to the Formula One calendar in 2021, the last four pole-sitters have all claimed victory – thrice to Max Verstappen and the last to Norris.
Piastri’s lap came after Norris had topped the timings in all three of the weekend’s practice sessions and is a vital blow in the championship race, with just nine points separating the two McLaren cars.
Verstappen, meanwhile, will start third in his home race, while Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda qualified 12th, as his struggles in the RB21 continued.
While wet conditions were expected at Zandvoort, and despite the weather holding, Lance Stroll was still unable to keep his Aston Martin on track and crashed into the barriers at turn 13 just five minutes into Q1.
Amid the chaos, though, Lawson had no issues advancing. The Kiwi posted his – at the time – best effort of the weekend so far, 1m 9.779s to set the fifth-fastest time of the weekend, and was just 0.441s off session leader Piastri.
However, with three points finishes in his last four races, Lawson and Racing Bulls are no longer content at just escaping Q1.
Into Q2, where Norris posted an all-time lap record of 1m 08.874s, Lawson’s first lap time of 1m 9.726s initially had him inside the top 10 and eyeing another place in Q3.
However, once all the remaining drivers had posted their banker laps, Lawson’s time had him 12th and 0.074s shy of safety.
Again, though, Lawson’s second effort meant he’d walk into the next stage of qualifying, as his 1m 9.383s lap moved him from up into seventh as one of the final drivers to post a time.
That mark saw Lawson go from 0.074s down to 0.110s clear of elimination, and 0.056s in front of Hadjar.
Norris’ lap record lasted just one minute into Q3, as Piastri posted a time of 1m 8.662s to get the session under way, while Lawson’s opening effort of 1m 10.331s had him 10th, 1.669s off the lead and 0.608s behind Hadjar.
However, that time came down to a snap of oversteer at turn three and gave Lawson room to improve if he could get things right on his final attempt.
With just under three minutes left, Lawson left the Racing Bulls garage to return to the track and posted 1m 9.5s to take eighth, but was 0.292s back from his teammate and 0.110s behind Sir Lewis Hamilton in front of him.
The Dutch Grand Prix begins at 1am on Monday morning (NZT).
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.