Lawson frustrated by front wing issue in qualifying for Japanese Grand Prix

It was a frustrated Liam Lawson after qualifying for the 2026 Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan. Lawson qualified his Visa Cash App Racing Bulls car in 14th position while his teammate will start from tenth place, having made it through to Q3.

“We have had a strong car this weekend and a solid run through all the Free Practice sessions, so it’s frustrating to be out in Q2,” commented Lawson. “A broken front wing was our biggest issue today, and Qualifying overall wasn’t as smooth as we’d hoped.

“During Q1, we struggled with the balance at first, but it came together by the end. Unfortunately, we had a front wing issue on the first run in Q2. After changing it, the balance felt quite different to what I’d had in the car all weekend, which is a shame because I think we had the potential to reach Q3.

“Overtaking here is difficult and managing energy will be a big challenge, however we’ll keep pushing to move forward tomorrow.”

**Fourteenth placed qualifier Liam Lawson interviewed during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka Circuit = Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images**

“It was another really tight Qualifying session for the team, with some mixed emotions,” said Tim Goss, VCARB Chief Technical Officer. “We have been working hard on the optimisation of the cars’ set-up over the Practice Sessions; looking for the best balance between the pace in the high-speed Sector 1, low speed of Turn 11 and the chicane at the end of the lap.

“By the time we arrived at Qualifying, we were confident that we had found the sweet spot. Both drivers progressed through Q1 without too many difficulties and we used two sets of new soft tyres to prepare for our main battleground in Q2.

“Unfortunately, Liam picked up some front wing damage which cost the car significant downforce during his first run in Q2, creating disruption for his second run. Without these issues, there was definitely more pace in the car.

Arvid (Lindblad) had an excellent Qualifying Session. Suzuka was all new to him and unfortunately the loss of any running in FP2 meant he was effectively starting on the backfoot. Despite this, Arvid kept his calm, building session by session throughout Saturday to culminate in a top ten Qualifying finish. The car is working well here and we now shift our focus to Sunday’s race. We’re looking forward to doing our best to put both cars into points scoring positions.”