Lawson explains F1 Chinese GP SQ1 elimination

Lawson didn't make it past the first segment of sprint qualifying after making an error at Shanghai

Liam Lawson put his Chinese Grand Prix sprint qualifying woes down to an inability to cool his tyres enough for his final flying lap, leading to him propping up the rest of the Formula 1 field.

The New Zealander was up to 10th in the order after the opening runs, having opened with a 1m32.729s time, but his second attempt at a run was aborted – and ultimately deleted – after running wide at Turn 9 and surpassing track limits.

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Lawson had visibly struggled with grip over the session and had been unable to get his medium tyre temperatures down enough during his cool-down laps for his final attempt.

This left him to wrestle the car through the opening corners, notably using a lot of steering lock to get the car into the corners, before running aground towards the end of the second sector.

"I went off, so yeah, it's obviously a shame," Lawson lamented after the session. "I think from the starting point it wasn't too bad; the first lap was alright, and then we were just looking to build on there, but we stayed out to try to cool the tyres on track.

"To be honest, I really struggled to get the temps down, starting the second lap, so we started too hot and then through the lap I just struggled. It's frustrating.

"It's really a shame because I think honestly we started OK in quali - first lap wasn't amazing, but it was relatively OK, so it's just a shame to be out for something so frustrating. Our pace should be a lot further up than where we are.

Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

"Obviously we have tomorrow's sprint race to try and learn some stuff and then tomorrow's quali as well, obviously. We want to do a better job on this."

GPS data shows that, in their opening SQ1 laps, Lawson had been relatively even with Verstappen until the final sector; the Dutchman's better exit from Turn 12 helped gather more pace along the 1.2km back straight, and he then braked earlier for the low-speed Turn 14 to gather stronger exits from the final corners.

Lawson was much less certain on the throttle as a result, yielding a 0.4s gap between them after their first laps of the session. However, Lawson was unable to post anything slightly more representative due to his Turn 9 off on his final lap as Verstappen found another three tenths; improvements from the other drivers ensured the Kiwi continued to tumble down the order.