Technical issues with Liam Lawson’s Visa Cash App Racing Bulls 03 RB Ford meant he did not set a time in qualifying for the Canadian F1 Grand Prix Sprint Race.
“It was a tough one on Liam’s side of the garage,” commented VCARB Head of Trackside Engineering Mattia Spini. “A technical issue after just two push laps in FP1 forced a Power Unit change and that ruled him out of Sprint Qualifying entirely. It’s a real shame, but there’s no doubt he had the pace to be in SQ3.”
“It was a frustrating Friday given I almost didn’t get any track time,” said Lawson. “In a Sprint weekend, FP1 is really important as it’s the only time you can actually put laps together before any competitive sessions.
“Overall, the car and the pace looked really good out there, and I also felt comfortable this morning during the couple of laps that I did. I’m going to be playing catch-up tomorrow.
“This track is quite hard and a bit unique, so the way we’ll drive in the Sprint will be different from Qualifying. The afternoon will be when we’ll have to make the biggest step, but I’m focused on getting back out there tomorrow.”
Lawson’s teammate Arvid Lindblad will start from P9 after moving through to SQ3.
It’s a Mercedes 1-2 on the front row for Saturday’s Sprint race with George Russell claiming pole ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli.
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