Lawson struck down by DRS woes in Bahrain Qualifying

Liam Lawson’s late-night Qualifying run ended in frustration as a DRS issue derailed his final push, leaving the RB driver stranded in P17 for tonight’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Taking part in his second Qualifying session as an RB driver, Liam Lawson filed out of the pitlane alongside his new teammate.

Touring the Bahrain International Circuit at full pace, the Kiwi’s first attempt left him 1.2 seconds behind the benchmark, however, he was just clear of the elimination zone which was the most important parameter. 

Following a momentary reset in his garage, Lawson headed out for one final Q1 run, now needing to recover from the bottom five as he circulated as one of the last drivers on the track.

The Kiwi showed solid pace through the first sector, however, his steady work came undone after an issue with the #30’s DRS caused him to lose out on critical time.

After picking up “a little wheelspin” on the exit of Turn 10, Lawson was forced to slightly lift off the throttle to keep the car under control, causing DRS to automatically close halfway down the straight to Turn 11.

“Q1 was okay up until I had a wheel spin out of the corner and opened DRS, which closed again on the way to Turn 11,” Lawson said.

“Unsure exactly what happened; if it was something I did, I will definitely learn from it as it’s cost me a lot today, which is pretty frustrating. 

“The car has been quick this weekend, for us it was just piecing it together in Quali. 

“I think we had it in a pretty good window and the speed was there, it’s just a shame we had this issue.” 

In a tight field, the vital loss of DRS caused Lawson to take the chequered flag one second off the pace.

He temporarily cleared the elimination zone with a time of 1:32.165s before his Red Bull replacement had his say, demoting Lawson into an eventual P17.  

Lining up on the second last row, Lawson will share the run down to Turn 1 with Gabriel Bortoleto.

As for his teammate, Isack Hadjar kept up his solid qualifying form, advancing through to Q2 and setting the 12th fastest time after admittedly taking a “conservative” approach to end his fastest lap.

“For tomorrow, it’s positive, we should be able to move forward,” Lawson said.

“When you’re buried, it’s not ideal for tyres so it’s going to be quite tough, but I feel like we have the speed. 

“The long run looks reasonably competitive, but everyone’s doing different things with tyres so let’s see tomorrow.”

Long gone are the days of daytime race starts for Australian fans, with lights out for the Bahrain Grand Prix set to take place at 01:00 AEST.

Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

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