Liam Lawson left the Formula 1 Hungarian GP qualifying session frustrated with his own performance. The Racing Bulls driver finished only in 11th position and believes he will have an extremely complicated mission to advance on the grid in a circuit known for the difficulty of overtaking.
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The New Zealander highlighted that the car performed well throughout the weekend and considered that there was potential to reach Q3. However, an error made in Q2 ended up compromising his chances, while his teammate, Arvid Lindblad, managed to advance and secured ninth position on the starting grid.
Lawson took responsibility for the early elimination and stated that his decisive lap was below expectations. According to him, a wheel lock-up on the first attempt in Q2 affected his confidence and had a direct impact on the preparation for the final lap.
“I simply drove very poorly in Q2. It’s a shame, because the car was very, very good all weekend. I had a wheel lock-up in the first part of Q2 and lost my references for the last lap, which certainly didn’t help,” he stated.
Despite this, the driver believes that the problem was not limited to the initial incident. Lawson admitted that his execution throughout the entire lap left something to be desired and acknowledged that the elimination was a direct consequence of this: “Overall, it was a very bad lap, so it’s not a surprise, but it’s disappointing, because we had a pretty competitive car,” he said.
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The Racing Bulls driver also cited factors that may have influenced the car’s performance during the qualifying session. Among them, he mentioned a possible drop in track temperature and the strategy adopted in the preparation laps, which may have hindered the functioning of the front tires at the beginning of the attempt.
“We were very strong in FP3, but perhaps the track temperature dropped a bit. It’s also possible that we were too slow on the out-laps, because the front tires were very bad at the start of the lap,” he added.
Even with the disappointment in the qualifying session, Lawson sees a positive point for Sunday’s race: the pace shown in long stints. Still, the New Zealander did not hide his pessimism when projecting the Hungarian GP: “We had good race pace, so I hope we have a fast car. But overtaking here is basically impossible, so it will be a very difficult race,” concluded the Racing Bulls driver.
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