Red Bull's New Zealand driver Liam Lawson races during the qualifying session for the 2025 Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada. Photo: GEOFF ROBINS
A disastrous qualifying session left Kiwi driver Liam Lawson out in the cold ahead of tomorrow's Canadian Formula One Grand Prix.
Lawson finished second to last, with only his former team mate Pierre Gasly behind him.
He will, however, start in 18th position for Monday's race, after another of his former team mates Yuki Tsunoda received a 10-grid penalty for a red flag infringement during the final practice session, which has pushed the Japanese driver to back of the grid.
Regardless of that, Sunday's result was another tough one for Lawson, who showed promising signs during yesterday's practice sessions where he was eighth and 10th fastest.
On Sunday though, he dropped back to 13th fastest in the final practice session, and then after being eliminated from qualifying, revealed he and his Racing Bulls team have been struggling with their tyre strategy.
"We've been struggling to make the tyre work on the first lap all weekend and in the first run of Q1 I had to do a build lap to have them in the right window," Lawson said.
"We didn't do a build lap for the last run and I didn't have much grip through the lap, so yeah, it's pretty disappointing, as the car's been fast," he said.
Up ahead, George Russell put his Mercedes on pole position in Canada for the second year in a row with Red Bull rival Max Verstappen alongside on the front row.
McLaren's Formula One championship leader Oscar Piastri qualified third with Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli in fourth place.
Lando Norris, Piastri's teammate and closest title rival only 10 points behind the Australian, qualified seventh at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
- RNZ / Reuters
