Lawson qualifies eighth for Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint

Liam Lawson has qualified eighth for Sunday morning’s Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint Race in this morning’s qualifying session at Interlagos.

The VCARB #30 driver progressed through SQ1 and SQ2 to make the top ten, before going faster than Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman in SQ3 to put his car on the fourth row of the grid.

Bearman is filling in for an ill Kevin Magnussen at Haas for the Sprint and had his SQ3 time deleted for a track limits infringement.

Lawson’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out of SQ1 and starts 18th, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was eliminated in SQ2 and starts 13th.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri pipped teammate Lando Norris for pole with a 1:08.899 moments before the chequered flag, with only 0.029 separating the pair.

The McLaren duo had good pace over the field and were more than two-tenths faster of third placed Charles Leclerc, who will be joined by championship leader Max Verstappen on the second row.

Carlos Sainz and George Russell make up the third row, ahead of Pierre Gasly and Lawson, while Albon and Bearman complete the top ten.

Lewis Hamilton was a shock elimination from SQ2 and will start 11th, next to Nico Hulkenberg. Perez’s elimination from the second session came after he failed to complete his out lap for a final flyer in time.

Franco Colapinto and Valtteri Bottas were the other drivers eliminated in SQ2.

Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Tsunoda, Lance Stroll and Zhou Guanyu complete the grid, having been knocked out in SQ1.

The Sprint race begins at 3.00 am on Sunday NZST and is followed by Grand Prix qualifying at 7.00 am.

Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint Race Provisional Starting Grid

Header Image: Getty Images/ Red Bull Content Pool