{"id":442560,"date":"2026-05-24T05:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T05:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/442560\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T05:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T05:24:12","slug":"frustrated-liam-lawson-12th-on-canadian-grand-prix-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/442560\/","title":{"rendered":"Frustrated Liam Lawson 12th on Canadian Grand Prix grid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Twelfth<\/p>\n

\nTwelfth placed qualifier Liam Lawson is interviewed ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, in Montreal, Quebec.
\nPhoto: GETTY IMAGES\/AFP\n<\/p>\n

New Zealand racing driver Liam Lawson is frustrated with his twelfth-place starting spot on the grid for Monday morning’s (NZT) Formula One Grand Prix, believing his car was quick enough to qualify higher.<\/p>\n

Lawson finished eleventh in the sprint race earlier on Sunday for Racing Bulls – an impressive result given he started at the back of the grid due to major technical problems in practice.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old pulled off seven passes in the 23-lap race to narrowly miss a top-10 finish.<\/p>\n

However, it was a top-10 spot on the main race grid that was in his sights, leaving him regretting his inability to follow team-mate Arvid Lindblad into the next tier of qualifiers. Lindblad, who finished eighth in the sprint, qualified ninth fastest for the big race.<\/p>\n

“The car is really fast this weekend, so it’s a shame to not put both cars in Q3,” Lawson said. “I was still trying to catch up after yesterday and it was more difficult than expected.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe Racing Bulls team work on Liam Lawson’s car in the pitlane during qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, in Montreal, Quebec, 23 May 2026.
\nPhoto: GETTY IMAGES\/AFP\n<\/p>\n

“At the start of qualifying, I struggled a bit with the warm-up on the soft tyre. I also had some front locking and it meant that I ended up putting a lot of pressure on myself during the last push lap to try and get through.<\/p>\n

“We came very close, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Let’s see what happens tomorrow; we have a quick car on the dry, but I also wouldn’t mind having some rain, considering where we start.<\/p>\n

“These cars are hard to drive in the wet, so if it rains as expected, it will be an interesting race.”<\/p>\n

George Russell takes pole, wins sprint<\/p>\n

George Russell snatched pole position from championship-leading Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli with a last-gasp lap in the final qualifying session, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

Russell, winner of the day’s earlier sprint race from pole, crossed the line 0.068 of a second faster than the Italian, right at the end of the session after the 19-year-old had gone quicker than everyone else.<\/p>\n

“That is the most exhilarating feeling in the world when it comes last minute out of nowhere,” the Briton said on the team radio after a whoop of joy. “We made that a bit tricky.”<\/p>\n

McLaren’s Lando Norris, the reigning champion, will start in third place on Sunday with Australian teammate Oscar Piastri alongside, for what could be a wet race with race director Rui Marques declaring a ‘Rain Hazard’.<\/p>\n

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth, but is facing an inquiry for alleged impeding, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen sixth and frustrated at a lack of straight-line speed.<\/p>\n

“I have no idea what is going on. I don’t really have a lot of words,” said the Dutch four-times world champion.<\/p>\n

“Everything is so confusing. I also didn’t like the set-up change we made. I think [Sunday] will be chaos regardless of the weather.”<\/p>\n

\"Mercedes<\/p>\n

\nMercedes driver George Russell, right, shows his plaque after winning the Canadian Grand Prix sprint race, with second placed Lando Norris, centre, and third-placed driver Kimi Antonelli, left, in Montreal, Canada, on May 23, 2026
\nPhoto: AFP\n<\/p>\n

The pole was a third in a row in Canada for Russell, who converted the position into victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve last year, and whose team have brought a major car upgrade to Montreal.<\/p>\n

It had not looked at all certain minutes earlier when the Briton aborted his first attempt to return to the pits and was still to set a time with six minutes to go. He then went out and did two flying laps, sealing pole with the second.<\/p>\n

Russell had not figured in the top three in the two previous qualifying phases, with Antonelli – the winner of the last three grands prix and 18 points clear of Russell in the standings – top in Q1 and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar fastest in Q2.<\/p>\n

“That last lap came from nowhere,” said the Mercedes driver. “It was such a great feeling when it was such a challenging session and you pull it all together on that last lap to throw yourselves up the leaderboard is epic.<\/p>\n

“Kimi was more competitive than I, and we weren’t as clear ahead of everyone else as yesterday, so it was a challenge but I redialled my driving and put it together.”<\/p>\n

Hadjar will start seventh alongside Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Lindblad qualified ninth with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, finally finding some form after a breakthrough weekend in Miami, will start tenth.<\/p>\n

Antonelli, who was fuming after the sprint race and suggested Russell should be penalised, sounded calmer after the session.<\/p>\n

“I am pretty happy,” he said. “There was still a little bit left on the table but George did a great lap and all eyes on tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

Reuters, with additional reporting by RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Twelfth placed qualifier Liam Lawson is interviewed ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, in Montreal, Quebec. Photo: GETTY…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-442560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}