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 recurring 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 quickly in the final minutes of the session, drivers made it a priority to get a lap in before it ended. After showing early pace, Lawson finished the session sixteenth, a tenth and a half above 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 struck the wall. This triggered the double yellow flags, forcing all drivers to abort their laps.
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 the fourteenth and fifteenth, meaning that after showing green sectors in 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 teammate Russell, Hamilton and Leclerc to pole.
Grand Prix action kicks off at 8:00pm tomorrow, with both Racing Bulls determined to move forward.
Header Image: Red Bull Content Pool
