📰Liam Lawson robbed by red flag, qualifies 16th in Imola

By Alex Powell

Red flags cost Liam Lawson any chance of progressing from the first qualifying session of Formula One‘s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and condemned the Kiwi to the 16th-fastest time at Imola’s Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

With just seconds left on the clock on the first of three qualifying sessions, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto crashed at turn three, triggering a red flag which robbed Lawson of any chance to improve on his mark and push for a place in the next stage.

The Racing Bulls driver was on his second timed lap of the opening session, but was forced to abort and missed out on advancing by 0.123s.

“Not getting to do the last lap is a shame,” Lawson said after qualifying.

“We’ve had a fast car and we put things together today. It’s a tough one to swallow, after the last few races as well.

“We were fast enough today, it’s just unfortunate.

“Sport can be like this. [I’m] working harder than ever and putting everything towards it.

“It’s just a shame to keep taking the hits. But I’ll continue to work hard. I’m sure that moment will come.”

Coupled with an earlier red flag after a crash by Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, Lawson was unable to set a genuine lap time across the first session.

Haas’ Ollie Bearman suffered the same fate as Lawson and could only post the 19th-fastest time as a result.

However, Lawson has at the very least moved up one place into 15th for Monday morning’s Grand Prix, given Colapinto was handed a grid penalty for leaving the garage early after an earlier red flag.

Lawson, though, faces a tough ask in the Grand Prix, given Imola’s tight layout making it nigh on impossible to overtake.

The Kiwi’s woes were compounded by the performance of his teammate Isack Hadjar, who set the ninth-fastest time and reached Q3 for the second time this season.

World championship leader Oscar Piastri claimed pole position as he hunts for a fourth-straight race victory, while reigning champion Max Verstappen will start second.

Verstappen has won the last three completed grands prix at Imola. The 2023 race was cancelled by weather.

Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris will start fourth and is joined by Mercedes’ George Russell on the second row.

Ferrari, meanwhile, struggled in one of their two home races, as both Sir Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were knocked out in Q2.

Given the importance of qualifying, Lawson will rue the events of Q1, as all momentum was scuppered by the two red flags.

As Tsunoda lost control at turn six and dramatically destroyed his Red Bull, a red flag thwarted Lawson’s first attempt to set a flying lap and wasted a set of tyres – the new C6 compound making its debut this weekend.

Tsunoda was able to walk away unscathed, but will start 20th in the Grand Prix.

With just over 12 minutes remaining in Q1 by the time the session resumed, Lawson’s first effort of 1m 16.379s saw him as high as fifth, only to drop down to 14th after every car bar Tsunoda had set a lap.

In the final minutes, Lawson beat the clock to return to the track for the end of Q1, and was bumped into the elimination zone by Gabriel Bortoleto’s Sauber.

And as Colapinto hit the wall at turn three, triggering a red flag, Lawson had no chance to improve on his initial mark.

Earlier, Lawson logged the 14th-fastest time of the third and final practice session and logged another 21 laps to put to use in his qualifying efforts.

While his best time of 1m 15.977s was more than a second off Norris – who topped FP3 – Lawson’s mark was an improvement of 0.278s on his mark from FP2 on Saturday morning.

However, as was the case with Hadjar in FP2, Lawson also lost control of his car at turn three. Unlike his teammate, though, Lawson was able to keep control of his car and avoid hitting the wall and triggering a red flag.

That spin came after Lawson also had trouble at turn nine and questioned his race engineer whether he had sustained damage to his floor.

Norris’ effort, though, ensured that McLaren topped the times in all three practice sessions, after Piastri was the fastest in FP1 and FP2.

Hadjar’s best time of 1m 15.508s was good enough for seventh in FP3 and was 0.469s quicker than Lawson. For the second time out of three sessions, though, Lawson was quicker than Tsunoda, who could only manage a best lap of 1m 16.110s.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix begins at 1am Sunday (NZT).

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix starting grid
Oscar Piastri – McLaren
Max Verstappen – Red Bull
George Russell – Mercedes
Lando Norris – McLaren
Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
Carlos Sainz – Williams
Alex Albon – Williams
Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls
Pierre Gasly – Alpine
Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari
Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes
Gabriel Bortoleto – Sauber
Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls
Franco Colapinto – Alpine
Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber
Esteban Ocon – Haas
Ollie Bearman – Haas
Yuki Tsunoda – Red Bull

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.