Liam Lawson to start 12th at Qatar GP
- editor59343
- 2 minutes ago
- 1 min read
New Zealand driver Liam Lawson will start from 12th on the grid for the Qatar Grand Prix after improving as the weekend progressed.
Oscar Piastri won the 19-lap sprint event and followed up by securing pole position to cap a superb day for the McLaren driver.
LATEST HEADLINES:
Lawson will be pushy hard for a top-10 finish in the penultimate race of the season, with Red Bull indicating they will announce their full driver lineup for next year shotrly.
Lawson, 23 is fending off competition for a seat from Isack Hadjar, Yuki Tsunoda and F2 driver Arvid Lindblad.
The New Zealander went from 17th in sprint qualifying to 14th in the sprint race to qualifying 12.
"The car was in a much better window today. We ended Q1 in a very comfortable place," he said.
"Unfortunately, very small changes just seemed to make it tricky to drive, and we barely improved in Q2.
"It's frustrating, but a very small step from yesterday. We'll try and move forward. Our race pace today was very good, we just needed to qualify better. This hasn't helped that."
Championship leader Lando Norris completed the front row lockout for McLaren, alongside Piastri, while Red Bull's four-times world champion Max Verstappen, chasing a third successive Qatar win, will line up right behind his rivals. George Russell starts fourth.
