Lawson equals career-best, to start third in Brazil after chaotic qualifying

At a time when his Formula One future is largely out of his hands, qualifying third for the Brazilian Grand Prix is as good a statement Liam Lawson could have made.

In a chaotic qualifying session – delayed for more than an hour by torrential rain at Interlagos – the Kiwi earned himself his 10th top-10 start of the year, and potentially his most important in the context of his future in the sport.

While his best lap time, 1m 28.321s, was only enough for fifth place in the final stage of qualifying (Q3), grid penalties to Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – five and 10 places respectively – saw the Kiwi promoted to the second row for the second time in his career.

“It was tricky,” Lawson said after qualifying. “But the car was quick all through quali.

“I didn’t get to finish the last lap, it’s a shame, we could have been higher.

“If it’s wet, there’s less spray [starting] where we are, but we’ll see the conditions tomorrow.

Starting third means Lawson matches the best qualifying position of his career, set at last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where he also posted his best race result: fifth.

As another nudge to Red Bull’s decision-makers, Lawson was the organisation’s fastest car across its two teams, with his closest stablemate being Isack Hadjar, who qualified seventh but will start fifth.

Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad could only manage 12th after suffering a mechanical issue in Q2, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen starts 21st after a 30-place grid penalty for a power unit change.

Lawson’s best lap time was 0.851s off the pace set by McLaren’s Lando Norris on pole, while newly crowned world champion Kimi Antonelli starts alongside him on the front row.

Liam Lawson at the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. Photo / Alberto Vimercati, AFP

As a sign of the chaos on track during the session, Lawson will be joined on the second row by Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Crucially for Racing Bulls, constructors’ championship rivals Alpine suffered the misfortune of neither car advancing from Q1.

With more rain expected over the 71-lap race, Lawson will back himself to do something special in conditions he excels in.

The Brazilian Grand Prix begins at 6am on Monday.

As rain fell over Interlagos, a red flag less than two minutes into Q1 triggered a serious rethink of strategies for all teams. Once the session resumed close to 90 minutes later, drivers faced an effective shootout as the track dried and favoured cars that completed their laps as late as possible.

Despite regularly falling down the leaderboard, Lawson was never in any real danger of elimination and saw his best time of 1m 32.085s enough for seventh place in Q1 to progress with more than 1.2s up his sleeve.

In a huge win for Racing Bulls, though, neither Alpine car could escape Q1, with Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly qualifying 17th and 18th respectively.

Entering Q2, Lawson’s chances improved when Max Verstappen didn’t return to the track, given his 30-place grid penalty, saving tyres and freeing up a place in the top 10.

As conditions cleared, Lawson’s first effort of 1m 30.922s put him comfortably in the top 10. Once conditions cleared, the Kiwi switched to intermediate tyres and posted a 1m 27.049s lap to move into the top 10 in second, just 0.304s off the pace of Russell as the session leader.

Liam Lawson trails Cadillac's Sergio Perez as rain fell at Interlagos. Photo / Mauro Pimentel, AFP

His teammate wasn’t as fortunate; Lindblad stopped on track at turn five and was eliminated in 12th, as Q2 was stopped when Haas’ debutant Rafael Camara hit the barriers to trigger a red flag with less than a minute left.

As more rain fell between Q2 and Q3, Lawson wasn’t able to better the time he set in the second part of qualifying, given the conditions, but was able to keep his composure to equal his career best, as another tick in the column of why he belongs in Formula One next year and beyond.