Liam Lawson will start 17th in the final sprint race of the 2025 Formula One season, after a first-session elimination at Qatar’s Losail Circuit.
In his third year racing at the Qatar Grand Prix, Lawson was unable to escape from the first session of sprint qualifying (SQ1), and posted his worst result to date in Qatar.
The Racing Bulls driver qualified 14th for the Qatar sprint race in 2023, and 10th in 2024. This time, though, he missed out on a place in the second session (SQ2) by just 0.078s, after he’d complained of a lack of stability in his car earlier in the day.
“We started quite far off earlier today,” Lawson said post-sprint qualifying.
“Going into quali, we had to make quite a big step and ended up compromising a lap because of it.
“It was just tough with how close it is. I think we were pretty close in the end. We’d have liked one more lap.
“I think we can move forward [in the race], but I don’t know how far. It’s more about learning for Sunday.
“We’ll try what we can, and then tomorrow have another go in quali.”
Lawson will get another chance to impress on Sunday (NZT) in qualifying for the Grand Prix, in the last weekend before Red Bull confirms the Kiwi’s status for 2026, currently vying for what’s understood to be the final seat at Racing Bulls.
On a weekend that could prove decisive in deciding which driver claims this year’s world title, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri will start from pole, looking to eat into the 24-point gap to his teammate Lando Norris.
Piastri has not won a race – sprint or grand prix – since Zandvoort earlier this year, and has watched his world championship lead evaporate, before being overtaken altogether.
Norris will start third after he and Piastri were split by Mercedes’ George Russell, while reigning world champion Max Verstappen could only manage sixth.
Yuki Tsunoda, Lawson’s competition for that 2026 seat, had arguably his best qualifying result of the season, and will start fifth – ahead of Verstappen – as the best-placed of Red Bull’s four cars.
Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar, meanwhile, will start 11th, after his best time in SQ2 was deleted for exceeding track limits.
As one of the final drivers out on track in SQ1, Lawson’s first lap time of 1m 22.421s took him inside the top 10, with just over five minutes remaining. By the time all 20 drivers had posted a lap time in SQ1, though, Lawson had fallen to 15th, and was just 0.189s clear of the drop as he returned to the pits.
With less than three minutes remaining, Lawson re-emerged for his final attempt at bettering his lap time, but was 0.246s away from elimination, in 18th place.
The Kiwi improved his time to 1m 21.851 to temporarily move into ninth, but was hit by a slow first sector that ultimately cost him a place in SQ2, as Lawson was eliminated.
Earlier, Lawson was 1.638s off the pace in the weekend’s only practice session (FP1). The Kiwi got through 30 laps on the Losail Circuit, but could only clock the 19th-fastest time.
Piastri was the fastest in FP1, just 0.058s ahead of his teammate Norris, while Verstappen was sixth, 0.580s off the pace.
The Qatar Grand Prix sprint race begins at 3am on Sunday, before the weekend’s main qualifying session gets under way at 7am.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.