“We’ll try to move forward in the race tomorrow.”
In brutally hot conditions that McLaren’s Oscar Piastri compared to “driving on sandpaper”, Lawson couldn’t earn an eighth Q3 appearance of the season, with a best time of 1m 37.023s, and missed the chance to start in the top 10 despite a five-place grid penalty to Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar.
Lawson, though, can at least take solace from the fact that of his 10 points finishes so far this season, four have come when starting outside the top 10.
What’s more, his record in Malaysia as a junior driver, three race wins out of three attempts, three poles and three fastest laps, all make for good reading.
At the front of the grid, the same two drivers who began first and second last time Formula One raced in Malaysia will do so again, albeit in a different order.
Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad during the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Photo / Red Bull
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took pole by 0.298s, and became the first driver this season to qualify first in a non-Mercedes powered car, trailed by the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton in second.
Verstappen hasn’t won a race since last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he was denied a fifth-straight world championship by just two points.
Hadjar qualified third, but will start eighth, and see his place instead taken by world championship leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc joining him on the second row.
Meanwhile, in the battle to be “best of the rest” as the highest-starting driver outside the top four teams, Lawson will have to take a back seat to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who qualified ninth.
Despite his heroics in trying to aid Lawson into Q3, Lindblad will start at the back of the grid regardless, after also taking a grid penalty for changing his engine.
The Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia gets underway at 8pm on Sunday night (NZT).
Having advanced from Q1 in every race weekend of the year so far, Lawson made sure that record wouldn’t change in Malaysia.
Liam Lawson drives at Sepang during the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Photo / AFP
A first lap of 1m 37.835s was enough for the Kiwi to sit 10th once all 22 drivers had posted their opening time, and improved to 1m 37.332s. While that mark saw him fall from 10th to finish the opening stage in 12th, Lawson still progressed into Q2 with 0.638s to spare.
However, Lawson wasn’t able to improve on that time to open Q2, as a time of 1m 37.773s saw the Kiwi’s first mark slower than the one he set one session earlier.
And while he was able to improve again to 1m 37.023s – courtesy of teamwork from Lindblad – Lawson fell just over two tenths of a second shy of being able to progress and earn his eighth Q3 appearance of the season.
Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia qualifying result
1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull
2. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari
3. Isack Hadjar – Red Bull *grid penalty
4. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes
5. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
6. Lando Norris – McLaren
7. Oscar Piastri – McLaren
8. George Russell – Mercedes
9. Pierre Gasly – Alpine
10. Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi
11. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls
12. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
13. Carlos Sainz – Williams
14. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
15. Franco Colapinto – Alpine *grid penalty
16. Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls *grid penalty
17. Nico Hulkenberg – Audi
18. Ollie Bearman – Haas
19. Esteban Ocon – Haas
20. Alex Albon – Williams
21. Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac
22. Sergio Perez – Cadillac
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.