A disappointing qualifying for Liam Lawson at the Australian GP saw him exit the session in Q1, and he’ll start the Grand Prix from 18th place on Sunday.
Most of Lawson’s third practice session was spent in the Red Bull garage, having run into power unit issues that the team had to work on. The car was ready to participate in qualifying, but running wide at turn 3 had a domino effect on his subsequent flying laps, and he ended up going off at turn 13 during a messy final run, causing him to finish the session in 18th place.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished the session in P3 – more than a second and a half faster than his teammate.
Low expectations from the start
Speaking after his Q1 exit, Lawson said: “The first laps were expected to be off, and then we were just planning on battling through the session. Obviously going off on that second lap just put everything out of order a bit.
“Last lap was good, honestly, just until the last sector where I had a big drop. Missing P3 obviously doesn’t really help any of this but I shouldn’t be going off in quali.”
When asked about the issue during qualifying, Lawson lamented his lost practice time:
“Before turn nine, we were about half a second up and then obviously we wanted to keep improving but I already had a snap through [turns] nine and ten. I think tyres were really starting to drop there.
“That’s something we’ve just been battling this weekend. Obviously something we missed practising in P3.”
Despite this, Lawson still felt good about the car, stating that the team had made improvements.
“We think we made a step with the car today. Obviously Max is in a good position so we definitely made a step. The weather tomorrow is variable so let’s see.”
Lawson is the only driver on the grid to have never competed at Albert Park in any category, and his lack of time on the track so far this weekend could have a significant impact on his performance in Sunday’s race.
