A week on from his career-best Formula One result in Austria, Liam Lawson couldn’t escape the first session of qualifying, and could only set the 16th-fastest time for Monday’s British Grand Prix.
The Racing Bulls driver was left in the garage for too long after a red flag, as rainbegan to fall over Silverstone. That left Lawson with a lot to do by the time he could attempt a final push lap, with slick tyres on a dampening track.
Slippery conditions saw Lawson slightly lose control of his car at turn 15, Stowe, with those vital milliseconds counting against him when it mattered.
“I had no grip,” the Racing Bulls driver was heard saying to his race engineer. “I have no idea what happened.”
“It’s more frustrating, because we’ve had a fast car all weekend,” he continued post-qualifying. “The temperatures, we couldn’t get on top of tyres.
“It’s a shame to throw away not a weekend, but a session - qualifying - where we’ve been fast all weekend.
“For whatever reason, we struggled to put the tyre in a good place for the lap. We haven’t had that issue this weekend, so it’s something new that’s been in quali.
All up, Lawson fell 0.112s short of advancing to the second of three qualifying sessions, but a grid penalty to Haas’ Ollie Bearman will see the Kiwi start 15th when the lights go out.
The result will be all the more frustrating for Lawson and Racing Bulls, given both of its cars had been in the top 10 throughout the three practice sessions. Lawson’s best qualifying time of 1m 26.440s was 0.184s slower than his mark from the third and final practice session earlier in the day.
World champion Max Verstappen put in a phenomenal final lap of 1m 24.892s to take pole position, his fourth of the season and first since Miami.
Current world championship leader Oscar Piastri will join Verstappen on the front row, while McLaren teammate Lando Norris starts third.
Following two pointless finishes in his last two races, Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar qualified 13th, while Red Bull stablemate Yuki Tsunoda managed 12th.
With the threat of rain, teams and drivers faced a difficult choice of when to send their cars out on track, given the changeover period from slick to intermediate or wet tyres.
Liam Lawson on track at Silverstone. Photo / Red Bull
As one of the final drivers out on track in Q1, Lawson’s first lap time - 1m 26.606s - was enough for 10th place. That time, though, saw him fall to 13th by the time he returned to the garage, with a 0.218s buffer to the drop zone at the time.
When a spin into the gravel by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto at turn 18 triggered a red flag with just under seven minutes remaining, Lawson was 0.099s clear of a Q1 exit, but the Kiwi at the very least saved a set of tyres by the fact he was in the garage at the time of the incident.
Upon the resumption, rain had begun to fall, as both Lawson and Hadjar stayed in the garage until there were less than four minutes left in the session.
Cars improving behind him saw Lawson fall into the drop zone, before a final push lap of 1m 26.440s meant he’d missed out on advancing, and come anywhere close to replicating his sixth-place result from qualifying in Austria last week.
As was the case with qualifying, light rain is forecast for the Grand Prix.
Earlier, in the third and final practice session, Lawson logged the 10th-fastest time, and continued to improve from the pace he showed on Friday.
Lawson’s best time of 1m 26.256s was 0.368s quicker than his best effort from FP2, coming in much cooler conditions.
Still, that time was 0.758s back from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who set the best mark, and 0.127s back from Hadjar. Lawson’s best effort, though, was 0.076s faster than Lewis Hamilton, who had set the pace in FP1.
Both Racing Bulls cars spent most of the session on the hard tyres, gathering valuable data before Monday’s race, having set their times on the mediums and softs on Friday.
However, Lawson was also shown a black and white flag - effectively a warning - for driving erratically, but did not warrant further action.
Any final chance Lawson had to better his FP3 time was ended prematurely, as Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto left the track with suspension damage to trigger a red flag, before any chance of a resumption was ended when Bearman lost his front wing attempting to return to the pit lane.
The British Grand Prix begins at 2am on Monday (NZ time).
British Grand Prix qualifying results
Max Verstappen - Red Bull
Oscar Piastri - McLaren
Lando Norris - McLaren
George Russell - Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari
Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
Kimi Antonelli - Mercedes *three-place grid penalty
Ollie Bearman - Haas *ten-place grid penalty
Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin
Pierre Gasly - Alpine
Carlos Sainz - Williams
Yuki Tsunoda - Red Bull
Isack Hadjar - Racing Bulls
Alex Albon - Williams
Esteban Ocon - Haas
Liam Lawson - Racing Bulls
Gabriel Bortoleto - Sauber
Lance Stroll - Aston Martin
Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber
Franco Colapinto - Alpine
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.
