Lawson qualifies 15th for US Grand Prix Sprint

New Zealander Liam Lawson will start Saturday’s United States Grand Prix Sprint Race on the eighth row at Circuit of the Americas after his best lap in Q2 was deleted for a track limits violation.

Lawson appeared to have qualified 12th for Saturday’s race, but had his sole Q2 time deleted for running wide at Turn 1, which demoted him behind Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, the latter two having also lost their best laps.

The Kiwi does bring a grid penalty into the round after RB exceeded the maximum-allowed components in all six areas of the power unit – internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K, energy store and control electronics.

That penalty, however, will see him start at the rear of the field in the Grand Prix, and not the Sprint.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pipped Mercedes’ George Russell for pole with his final flyer, going just 0.012 seconds faster. Verstappen, who holds a 52-point advantage over Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship, has won every Sprint race this season.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified third, two-tenths off the pole-setting time and 0.024 seconds aahead of Norris, who makes for four different manufacturers on the front two rows.

Carlos Sainz lines up fifth, next to Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg. The American team showed strong pace at their home track, with Kevin Magnussen to start directly behind his teammate in eighth, alongside Lewis Hamilton.

Lawson’s RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda qualified ninth, ahead of impressive Williams rookie Franco Colapinto, who completes the top 10 after spinning at Turn 12 early in Q3.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was the shock elimination in Q2, qualifying 11th and nearly two-tenths shy RB’s Tsunoda, who progressed in 10th.

Gasly was the only other driver with a time recorded in the session, after Lawson, Stroll and Alonso lost times, which places him 12th on the grid despite being over one second off the pace of session leader Sainz.

Oscar Piastri will start alongside Lawson in 16th, having been eliminated from Q1 after losing his best lap for exceeding track limits on the penultimate corner.

Alex Albon did a complete 360 degree spin in his Williams at the same spot on his way to 18th, where he’ll start next to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu complete the grid.

Earlier, Lawson was 13th fastest in the weekend’s sole practice session, completing 28 laps for a best time of 1m 34.443s, nearly two-tenths quicker than the 1’34.617 he set to progress from Q1 to Q2.

The United States Grand Prix Sprint begins at 7.00 am NZST on Sunday, ahead of Grand Prix qualifying at 11.00 am.

The United States Grand Prix begins at 8.00 am on Monday NZST and will be shown live on Sky Sport.

United States Grand Prix Sprint Race grid

Header Image: Getty Images/ Red Bull Content Pool