Liam Lawson will start tomorrow’s Formula 1 United States Grand Prix from ninth after progressing to Q3 at the Circuit of the Americas, with Racing Bulls making the unusual but strategic decision to keep the Kiwi in the garage for the final qualifying session.
Meanwhile, championship leader Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for Mercedes, beating Max Verstappen, who will line up alongside him on the front row.
Lawson showed strong pace through the opening two qualifying sessions, comfortably progressing through Q1 before narrowly securing a top-ten spot in Q2.
However, with teammate Arvid Lindblad carrying a five-place grid penalty into tomorrow’s race, Racing Bulls had already decided not to run Lawson in Q3, saving a fresh set of tyres for the Grand Prix and keeping Lindblad from losing another unnecessary spot on the grid.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the early benchmark in Q1 with a 1:35.200 lap, with teammate Lewis Hamilton slotting into second, just a tenth of a second behind.
Lando Norris went third fastest on his opening flying lap, three tenths off the pace, while George Russell and Kimi Antonelli initially occupied fourth and fifth for Mercedes. Both Mercedes drivers opted for the medium compound tyre, as did Oscar Piastri, while the rest of the field ran on softs.
Verstappen soon moved into second, just 0.015 seconds behind Leclerc, before Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar impressed with the third-fastest time, only 0.086 seconds off the Ferrari driver.
Lawson made a promising start to qualifying, posting a 1:35.662 on his first flying lap to go sixth fastest, just over four tenths off the pace. Lindblad was further down the order in 11th, recording a 1:36.519, more than eight tenths slower than Lawson.
The Kiwi’s next flying lap was compromised when he encountered a Williams car through the final two corners, with the traffic ruining his chance to improve. Despite the setback, Lawson had done enough to progress comfortably, finishing eighth-fastest in Q1.
Norris topped the session in the closing moments with a 1:35.029, while Lindblad improved to tenth, closing the gap to his teammate to less than a tenth of a second.
Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas were eliminated.
Verstappen was the early pacesetter in Q2, posting a 1:34.471, with Hamilton three tenths behind in second. Hadjar, Leclerc and Nico Hulkenberg followed, while Lindblad briefly occupied sixth after his opening flying lap.
Lawson then went two tenths faster than his teammate to move into fifth, continuing his strong qualifying performance.
Norris soon jumped into second, just 0.068 seconds behind Verstappen, while Piastri struggled to match his McLaren teammate’s pace, sitting eighth and nine tenths off the benchmark.
Mercedes then joined the fight at the front, with Russell moving into third before Antonelli went quicker to push his teammate down to fourth. The times kept tumbling in the closing minutes, with Russell setting a 1:34.305 to take the top spot, only for Antonelli to go 0.027 seconds faster.
Leclerc then spoiled Mercedes’ hopes of finishing one-two, posting a 1:34.198 to finish the session fastest, 0.080 seconds ahead of Antonelli. Further down the order, Lawson found himself in a tight battle to reach Q3.
Piastri improved to sixth, pushing Lindblad into the elimination zone and leaving Lawson hanging onto tenth. Pierre Gasly then went ninth fastest, knocking the Kiwi out of the top ten with just moments remaining.
Lindblad responded with an improvement of his own, moving into ninth, before Lawson delivered when it mattered most. On his final flying lap, Lawson snuck back into tenth, beating Gasly by just 0.022 seconds to secure his place in Q3.
Gasly, Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto and Fernando Alonso were eliminated.
Despite securing a place in Q3, Lawson did not return to the circuit for the final session, with Racing Bulls opting to keep the Kiwi in the garage.
The team had made the decision before qualifying even began, taking Lindblad’s five-place grid penalty into account.
With Lindblad set to drop down the order, Lawson was already guaranteed to start no lower than ninth, regardless of whether he completed a flying lap in Q3.
Given the pace advantage of the leading teams, Racing Bulls decided there was little to gain from sending Lawson back out, and instead preserved a fresh set of tyres for tomorrow’s race.
The decision also worked in Lindblad’s favour, as Lawson not setting a time meant his teammate would lose one fewer position when his penalty was applied.
Lindblad completed a non-competitive lap to secure ninth in the qualifying classification, while Lawson was classified tenth without setting a time. At the front, Antonelli continued his impressive qualifying run, setting a 1:34.035 to take pole for the United States Grand Prix.
Verstappen was second fastest, securing a front-row start alongside the Mercedes driver, while Hadjar impressed to claim third ahead of Leclerc. Russell, Hamilton, Piastri and Norris finished ahead of the Racing Bulls pair in the session.
After grid penalties, Lawson moves up to ninth for tomorrow’s Grand Prix, while teammate Lindblad drops five places to 14th.
Gasly also moves up to tenth, followed by Hulkenberg in 11th and Bearman in 12th, with Alonso moving up to 13th ahead of Lindblad.
Ocon will start 15th, followed by Stroll, Sainz, Albon, Perez and Bottas, who complete the top 20.
Colapinto and Bortoleto will line up at the back of the grid, with Colapinto carrying a ten-place penalty for taking a new internal combustion engine, while Bortoleto has been handed a 60-place penalty for multiple power unit component changes.
For Lawson, the result puts him in a promising position to fight for points, with the Kiwi having an additional fresh set of tyres available after sitting out Q3.
The Formula 1 United States Grand Prix gets underway at 9:00am Monday NZT.
Header Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool
