Liam Lawson gets support from his team during the leadup to the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand driver Liam Lawson will line up last on the 20-car grid for the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas on Monday despite a brilliant performance in qualifying.
In his first major qualifying since returning for his second stint in Formula One, RB driver Lawson was third-fastest in the first round of qualifying.
However, Lawson was not able to set a time in the second qualifying session and was eliminated in 15th position.
His finishing position didn't matter as Lawson will start at the back of the field because of a grid penalty he inherited from his predecessor at the RB team - Daniel Ricciardo, who exceeded engine limits at a previous race.
However, his first-up qualifying display would have raised eyebrows, with the 22-year-old lapping in clocking 1 minutes 33.339 seconds around the 5.5km Circuit of the Americas, with only four-time world champion Max Verstappen and Frenchman Charles Leclerc bettering that time.
"From my side, just happy to put the lap together," Lawson said.
"I knew that, if the speed was there in the first session, we probably had a bit more to find, so we made some changes to the car going into [qualification] and I think they were really positive.
"All good learnings and I was just happy to put that lap together."
Liam Lawson in action in the US Grand Prix sprint race at Austin, Texas. Photo: photosport
Lawson has been handed six races to show Red Bull he was the right man to replace out-of-favour veteran Ricciardo on a short-term contract for the remainder of the season, and extend his F1 contract into next year.
Norris on pole
Meanwhile, McLaren's Lando Norris hailed the best qualifying lap of his career after beating Red Bull rival and Formula One leader Verstappen to pole position.
Verstappen, 54 points clear of Norris in the standings after winning the earlier sprint at Austin's Circuit of the Americas, might have gone faster but George Russell crashed his Mercedes in the dying seconds and forced everyone to ease off.
Russell was unhurt and climbed out of the car.
Norris had set a storming provisional pole time of one minute 32.330 seconds with his first flying lap and Verstappen was 0.031 slower.
Red Bull's triple world champion looked quicker on his second run but Russell's accident in the final sector brought out double yellow warning flags.
The pole was Norris's career sixth, as well as fourth in the last five races and first in the United States, and he was delighted.
"It just came together perfectly. It was a very, very good lap. I'd probably say quite comfortably the best of my career," said the 24-year-old.
"It's what we needed to do. We have been on the back foot pretty much the whole weekend. We haven't had the pace of the Ferraris or Red Bulls. So I had to do something and today I did that. A cool lap and a nice way to start the race tomorrow."
Verstappen won in Austin last year and his sprint victory ended an eight-race losing run dating back to Austria in June, since when Norris has whittled away at the lead.
Hamilton shock
Mercedes' seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, the most successful F1 driver of all time, provided a major early shock by qualifying 19th.
"In the sprint we had some sort of failure from the formation lap on the front suspension. I had that throughout the sprint race. That made the balance really difficult," Hamilton said.
"The car was a nightmare in qualifying. I should probably start in the pit lane, otherwise I won't be going anywhere from where I am."
- RNZ/Reuters