Lawson solid leading up to the Candian Grand Prix

Liam Lawson’s run into the Canadian Grand Prix could be described as solid. Keeping the car off the walls and on track, he finished eighth in the FP1, 10th in FP2 and 13th in FP3 leading to an air of optimism heading into qualifying. However, the dice didn’t fall Lawson’s way, and he will start 18th on the grid.

“We’ve been struggling to make the tyres work on the first lap all weekend,” Laswon commented. “We committed to doing a build lap at the start of Q1 to keep them in the right window, however we didn’t do a build lap for the last run.

“This meant we didn’t have much grip through the lap, which is a shame as the car has been fast all weekend. I really enjoy the track and, as always, will be giving it my all tomorrow. We keep pushing.”

On the other side of the garage, Lawson’s teammate Isack Hadjar qualified ninth on the gird but will start from P12 after a three-place grid penalty.

“FP3 conditions were quite different from FP2, with hotter track temperature and more wind,” commented Guillaume Cattelani, Deputy Technical Director-Performance. “However, after this morning’s session, Liam was quite confident with his car balance.

Q1 is difficult to manage with traffic and the various tyre strategies, so finding a good slot is tricky, as well as managing around the cars on fast laps. Unfortunately for Liam, on his second run after the red flag he struggled with grip and did not improve his lap time enough to make it to Q2.

“As for Isack, he was able to put together a solid lap to secure a place in Q3. He finished the session in a very competitive P9. Unfortunately, we made a mistake in our team communication not informing him that Carlos was coming on a fast lap and he got impeded as a result. We received a three-place grid penalty and we apologise for what happened to both Isack and Carlos. The race is tomorrow, so let’s stay positive and ready to take any good opportunity to move up the grid.”

F1 Canadian Grand Prix 2025 Qualifying Results