Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson will start Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix from P3 on the grid after surviving a qualifying session in Baku that was interrupted by six Red Flags and tricky weather swings.
Lawson survived and even excelled in the Baku chaos, securing the team’s best qualifying result of the season behind pole-sitter Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Williams driver Carlos Sainz. The New Zealander admitted the intensity of the session was beyond even his expectations.
In parc ferme Lawson summed up his afternoon in Baku: “Honestly, I can’t even remember what happened, it was so busy. I said it would be, but I didn’t expect it to be like that. The car’s been good all weekend, and when it needed to be in qualy it was good, so a massive thanks to the guys and girls, the team’s been amazing this weekend so far, but obviously tomorrow is the important day.”
Qualifying today produced a record number of stoppages, with accidents for Alex Albon, Nico Hülkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Ollie Bearman, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri disrupting the flow of all three sessions. Wind and light rain added to the unpredictability, making track conditions change from lap to lap.
Lawson managed to deliver two banker laps before the track descended into further chaos, a strategy that allowed him to climb into the top three while rivals faltered.
Lawson: You’re trying to fight your brain
Lawson described the challenges drivers faced as the weather turned: “It’s always sketchy because you see the rain on your visor and you can feel it and you can see the gloss on the track, but because the tyres are still warm, you have grip. So, you’re trying to fight your brain and not back off and keep pushing, but it’s definitely tricky.”
The 22-year-old enters Sunday’s Grand Prix aware that his starting position will put him in direct combat with the sport’s most experienced frontrunners. Verstappen, chasing his first win in Baku, starts from pole with Sainz alongside him, while Lawson will line up in third as Racing Bulls aim to convert their strong qualifying into points.
“It’s going to be a very hard race,” Lawson acknowledged. “We have a great starting position but we’re aware of who we’re fighting, and that’s what we’ll be focused on.”
For Lawson, securing third in one of the most chaotic sessions in recent memory marks another milestone in his rapid rise. The task now is to turn that grid slot into a result on Sunday, where the slipstreams and narrow castle walls of Baku promise another unpredictable afternoon.
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