{"id":576383,"date":"2026-08-22T00:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T00:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/576383\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T00:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T00:52:15","slug":"frustrating-lawson-qualifies-11th-for-dutch-gp-sprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/576383\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Frustrating’: Lawson qualifies 11th for Dutch GP sprint"},"content":{"rendered":"

Returning to the cockpit of a Red Bull, Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson qualified 11th for the sprint race at the Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mercedes Driver George Russell got back to the front of the Formula 1 field on Friday and joked it’s because he’s no longer carrying an engagement ring.<\/p>\n

Lawson put in a strong showing at the start of sprint qualifying, outpacing temporary teammate Max Verstappen<\/a> in SQ1. His day ended in SQ2, unable to make the top 10. <\/p>\n

Lawson said it had been an “interesting day”, only finding out he’d be driving a Red Bull<\/a> earlier this week \u2013 and given just a single practice session to adapt to an entirely new car. <\/p>\n

\"Liam<\/p>\n

Liam Lawson of New Zealand and Oracle Red Bull Racing in his cockpit for a seat fitting during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Netherlands at Circuit Zandvoort on August 20, 2026 in Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, you sort of improve through Quali, and we started SQ1 quite strong, then we didn\u2019t make the same step that everybody else did. We\u2019ll look into it,” he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot, obviously, to learn today. So far, honestly, I feel quite good in the car. I was honestly feeling okay through Quali, I thought we\u2019d get through, so it\u2019s a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll obviously try and fix it and put it together for Quali, but we definitely had the potential to be right up there today, so it\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawson is serving as cover<\/a> for an injured Isack Hadjar. <\/p>\n

Lawson’s promotion means Yuki Tsunoda is back on the grid with Racing Bulls. He hasn’t raced under the new-for-2026 regulations at all. Tsunoda qualified 12th.<\/p>\n

Russell takes pole<\/p>\n

\"Mercedes<\/p>\n

Mercedes driver George Russell of Britain reacts after taking pole position after the sprint qualifying for the Formula One Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort , Netherlands. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Russell took the fight to his series-leading Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli as he qualified on pole position for the sprint race at the Dutch Grand Prix. F1 has returned from its midseason break, two weeks after Russell announced he and his partner Carmen Montero Mundt were engaged.<\/p>\n

After setting the fastest time Friday, Russell said over the team radio, \u201cNice one! Must be a bit lighter after that engagement ring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell previously revealed that \u201ca lot of thought\u201d went into his proposal, including designing the ring itself. \u201cI suddenly got really nervous when I was on one knee,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Russell snatched top spot by 0.041 of a second from McLaren’s Lando Norris, winner of the last race in Hungary, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari, 0.014 further back.<\/p>\n

Antonelli was fifth and revealed he’d been struggling with damage from a bumpy ride across a gravel trap in the first part of the session. The damage was \u201ca couple of holes in the floor.\u201d His closest championship challenger, Lewis Hamilton, could manage only seventh for Ferrari.<\/p>\n

– Additional reporting by AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Returning to the cockpit of a Red Bull, Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson qualified 11th for the sprint…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[283804,105539,283805,3515,111,139,69,3512,213,283806,283807],"class_list":["post-576383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-283804","tag-action-shot","tag-dutch-gp","tag-formula-1","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-sprint-qualifying","tag-zandvoort-circuit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576383","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=576383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}