Coming off what was a great performance in the sprint race for Liam Lawson, he had every right to be confident heading into main-game qualifying.
Both Lawson and Lindblad headed out of the lane early to get a banker lap in Q1. Lawson sat ninth after the first set of flyers, with Lindblad a few places behind. In what seems to be a re-occuring trend this season, George Russell led from Kimi Antonelli, a couple of tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
With four minutes to go, Lawson remained in ninth. With the track developing fast in the last minutes of the session, drivers made it a priority to get a lap in before the session ended. After showing early pace, Lawson finished the session sixteenth, a tenth and a half above of the cut line. Lindblad finished the session in twelfth.
All drivers headed out immediately at the start of Q2 once again to set a lap. Russell again headed to the top and after the first set of laps Lawson and Lindblad sat in fourteenth and fifteenth. Red Bull notably did not look pacy at this stage as Verstappen and Hadjar sat in a lowly fifth and ninth.
Lawson and Lindblad were some of the last drivers to head on a final push lap at the end of the session. Into the final corner, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto headed deep into the gravel trap after a tank-slapper moment of oversteer at the fast left hander. Bortoleto skipped across the gravel trap and landed in the wall. This brought out the double yellow flags, which forced all drivers to abort their lap.
Lawson and Lindblad were heading into the third sector when the flags came out, meaning they could not continue their lap. This left them down in fourteenth and fifteenth, meaning after showing green sectors in sectors 1 and 2, they could not advance to Q3.
This result can only be considered an unfortunate and unlucky end to Lawson’s day, after showing great pace in the earlier sprint race.
Antonelli set history by becoming the youngest pole sitter in F1 history, after beating both Hamilton and Leclerc to pole. Russell was unable to set a time due to a car issue and will be starting tenth.
Grand Prix action kicks off at 8:00pm tomorrow, where both Racing Bulls will be determined to move forward.
Header Image: Red Bull Content Pool
