Lawson out-qualifies Red Bull replacement in Japan

On return with Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson managed to out-qualify his Red Bull replacement by a slim 0.094s, readying himself to launch alongside Yuki Tsunoda for an “eventful” Japanese Grand Prix.

In anticipation of his first qualifying session back at RB, Lawson wasted no time to commence his final hour of practice, armed with the medium compound tyre to take on the early stages of FP3.

His initial bout of flying laps saw the Kiwi circulating as the fastest overall C2 runner, sitting 1.1 seconds slower than Ferrari’s soft tyre pace.

As time went on, Lawson fell out of the top ten, remaining in the bottom half of the field as he ventured into the pitlane. 

He remained in the garage until the final 10 minutes before launching around the Suzuka International Circuit, setting personal best sectors.

Crossing the finish line, Lawson’s fastest time of the session was a 1:29.104s, leaving him in P12 ahead of Qualifying. 

“It’s been a tricky day, especially after yesterday we had pretty good pace and good balance,” Lawson said.

“Somewhere along the way, I think with the wind change, we struggled more.” 

Putting his visor down with a point to prove in Qualifying, Racing Bulls took a cautious approach to start Q1, remaining in the garage for an additional seven minutes before joining the rest of the field out on track. 

When Lawson eventually rounded the final turn, he put his VCARB 02 into ninth place, however, running out of sync with the rest of the field, he quickly dropped into the at-risk P16.

Needing to improve on his last Q1 attempt, Lawson was one of the last drivers to launch, making it a nervous wait in the RB garage before scraping through to the second session.

When the light went green to start Q2, Lawson set a lap that left him three-tenths shy of the top ten.

“It’s a shame because the potential of the car has been very very good this weekend, I felt really good in the car but for whatever reason it got away from us at the end of Q2,” he said.

“You’re always chasing balance through Quali as the track evolves, everybody’s getting faster, so you’re chasing a balance to try and keep in a good window.

“I feel like we were fine-tuning through the run but it just got to a point that we couldn’t really tune it much more, we kind of hit a wall a bit.”

Despite improving with a time of 1:27.906s, breaking into the Q3 ranks proved to be an unsuccessful feat for the Kiwi, however, it wasn’t all bad news. 

With five minutes remaining in Q2, the rest of the field made their way out on track, with the home hero Yuki Tsunoda included. 

As Lawson’s Red Bull replacement rounded the opening sector, the need to overcorrect at Turn 2 let Tsunoda down, and despite setting two personal best sectors to round out the 5.8km lap, he failed to breach the top ten. 

Originally settling into P11, Tsunoda soon fell to P15, with Lawson celebrating the mini victory of out-qualifying the promoted driver by 0.094s. 

Lawson will start the 53-lap race from 13th on the grid, with Carlos Sainz’s three-place grid penalty to thank for boosting him and Tsunoda one place higher in the starting order.

“Tomorrow looks like it’s probably going to be wet, which is going to be a challenge for everybody, but also it opens opportunities for us to try and move forward,” Lawson said.

“The new surface will be quite different to drive, it’ll probably hold a bit more water. 

“Let’s see what happens, I’m sure it’ll be an eventful race.”

Weather may not be the only storm brewing at Suzuka when the former teammates line up alongside one another to start the Japanese Grand Prix, with lights out taking place at 15:00 AEDT.

Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Read the new issue of Auto Action Digital HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here or you can purchase a copy of the latest issue from one of our outlets here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.