Williams’ double DSQ offers hope for Lawson in Singapore

Promoted to a P12 start for the Singapore Grand Prix following Williams’ double disqualification from last night’s qualifying, Liam Lawson benefited from Racing Bulls’ swift recovery of his car, though limited track time “made it very difficult” as he shouldered the blame for his Q2 exit.

As the green light on the opening session approached, it turned into a race against time for Liam Lawson’s RB crew, who were still frantically repairing his damaged VCARB 02 after a second heavy hit with the walls in final practice cast doubt over his participation in Qualifying.

Thankfully, their efforts paid off just in time. 

Praising the RB mechanics for their swift work on Car No.30, Chief Technical Officer Tim Goss said, “The mechanics did a fantastic job to rebuild Liam’s car in time for the start of Qualifying”. 

Missing barely a minute of Q1, Lawson joined the pitlane queue and quickly got up to speed, posting a mid-pack banker lap before returning to the garage for a quick reset.

With pressure mounting, the Kiwi launched into his next flying run, needing to lift himself out of the drop zone while teammate Isack Hadjar sat at the other end of the spectrum, briefly holding the top time. 

Finding over seven-tenths of improvement, Lawson jumped into the top ten with a time of 1:30.681s, a lap strong enough to book his place in Q2.

Matching the highest lap tally of any driver in the opening session, Racing Bulls maintained the same proactive strategy for Lawson in Q2, sending both cars out early to make the most of the 15-minute session.

Despite the effort, Lawson found himself teetering on the edge of elimination, sitting 11th and just 0.042s shy of the top ten as the clock wound down. 

With one final chance to break through, he launched a last-ditch attempt, but the improvement never came.

“It’s obviously on me today with where we’ve ended up,” Lawson said.

“Missing practice — obviously, having two crashes is, obviously, not good enough at all, so, yeah, I made it very difficult for myself.

“To be honest, through qualifying, it was looking okay, just the last tyre, for whatever reason, we didn’t make it work.

“I went slower than my used [set of tyres], so… but, obviously, missing all the laps today, it’s maybe something that I would have figured out before, so, yeah, that’s on me.”

The result left Lawson classified P14, however, a double disqualification post-Qualifying drops both Williams drivers to the back of the grid, promoting the Kiwi into P12 for the start of Sunday’s 62-lap Singapore Grand Prix, with his Red Bull replacement and Baku rival Yuki Tsunoda starting just behind him.

Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz initially set the 12th and 13th fastest times in Saturday night’s qualifying, but during post-session parc fermé checks, FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer failed both FW46s. 

The matter was passed to the stewards, who subsequently disqualified the team’s results.

“During post-Qualifying scrutineering, the rear wing of the car was found to be non-compliant with the Technical Regulations,” the stewards’ notes read.

“The uppermost rear wing element adjustable positions were checked. The DRS in the state of deployment exceeded the maximum limit of 85mm on both sides of the rear wing outer area.

“At the hearing, the competitor admitted that, although their own measurement prior to the Qualifying had shown the component to be within tolerance, the measurement subsequently conducted by the appointed FIA officials revealed a larger gap than permitted and therefore the rear wing did not conform with the required dimension.

“The competitor did not contest the measurement procedure, the methodology, or the accuracy of the measuring equipment used by FIA. 

“The competitor fully accepted the results of the FIA measurement and acknowledged that the rear wing fitted to the car did not comply with the requirements of the Technical Regulations.

“Accordingly, the standard penalty applicable to technical infringements is imposed.”

Issuing a statement in response to the disappointing findings, coming just two weeks after the team soared to new podium heights in Baku, Team Principal James Vowles said the duel penalty was “bitterly disappointing”.

“During FIA scrutineering after Qualifying, the rear wings on both our cars failed DRS slot gap checks,” Vowles said.

“As a result, Alex and Carlos have been disqualified from Qualifying for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix.

“This is bitterly disappointing for the team and we are urgently investigating how this happened. 

“At no point were we seeking a performance advantage and the rear wings had passed our own checks earlier in the day, but there is only one measurement that matters and we fully accept the FIA ruling.

“We have a car capable of scoring points here this weekend and will do everything we can to fight from the back of the grid tomorrow, and will immediately review our processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Originally qualifying directly behind the Williams duo, Lawson will now line up alongside Nico Hulkenberg, with the Sauber driver and Fernando Alonso all that stand between the Kiwi and a second points finish in Singapore.

“I think the car is fast,” Lawson said.

“Whether we can move forward and fight for points, I don’t know.

“It’s going to be pretty tough to overtake, but let’s see.”

Lights out for the 62-lap Singapore Grand Prix will take place at 23:00 AEST tonight.

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

2025 Singapore Grand Prix Schedule (AEST):

Friday, October 3rd:

FP1: 19:30 – 20:30

FP2: 23:00 – 00:00

Saturday, October 4th:

FP3: 19:30 – 20:30

Qualifying: 23:00 – 00:00

Sunday, October 5th:

Race: 23:00

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