Liam Lawson during qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix in Doha. Photo: AFP
Liam Lawson will start from 12th on the grid for Monday morning's Qatar Grand Prix, where he'll try to impress Red Bull bosses one last time before learning his 2026 Formula One fate.
The New Zealand driver unleashed a solid drive in Doha on Sunday morning to follow up his earlier 14th in the sprint race.
Oscar Piastri won the 19-lap sprint event and followed up by securing pole position to cap a superb day for the McLaren driver.
There is plenty on the line for Lawson in the penultimate race of the season, with Red Bull indicating they will announce their full driver lineup for next year soon afterwards.
With the 23-year-old unlikely to feature in the top Red Bull lineup, his best hope is to retain his associate team Racing Bulls contract, with competition for the two seats coming from Yuki Tsunoda and F2 driver Arvid Lindblad.
Lawson was pleased to improve his Qatar starting position from 18th and 17th over the last two seasons, particularly after experiencing handling issues with his car on Saturday.
New Zealand F1 driver Liam Lawson. Photo: DPPI / PHOTOSPORT
"The car was in a much better window today. We ended Q1 in a very comfortable place," he said.
"Unfortunately, very small changes just seemed to make it tricky to drive, and we barely improved in Q2.
"It's frustrating, but a very small step from yesterday. We'll try and move forward. Our race pace today was very good, we just needed to qualify better. This hasn't helped that."
McLaren out front
Championship leader Lando Norris completed the front row lockout for McLaren, alongside Piastri, while Red Bull's four-times world champion Max Verstappen, chasing a third successive Qatar win, will line up right behind his rivals.
George Russell completed the top four for Mercedes at the floodlit Lusail circuit.
Piastri had earlier won the sprint race from pole to cut Norris's lead to 22 points. Verstappen is 25 points adrift of the Briton.
Norris can clinch the title on Monday if he wins the race but there is still everything to play for in a 57-lap night spectacular in the desert.
McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Photo: AFP
Piastri is back on form with his first pole since the end of August and has every chance of taking the battle down to the wire at Yas Marina next weekend while Verstappen is not yet out of the reckoning but must beat Norris.
Norris shattered the circuit record with a first flying lap of 1:19.495 in the final phase but Piastri found even more time with a 1:19.387 and his teammate then had to abort his last effort.
"We left the car pretty much the same. Everything felt great all weekend. If it ain't broke, don't fix it," said Piastri of his performance.
Norris said he had understeer and was going off, so he abandoned the final attempt.
"Oscar did a good lap, drove very well and has been driving well all weekend. Nothing to complain about, just didn't do the lap, and still P2 for tomorrow," he said.
"The first couple of laps are always opportunities for everyone but after there I think it's probably going to be pretty straightforward for everyone too."
Oscar Piastri leads McLaren team-mate Lando Norris during the Belgian Grand Prix, 2025. Photo: FLORENT GOODEN / PHOTOSPORT
Kimi Antonelli qualified fifth for Mercedes with Isack Hadjar sixth for Racing Bulls ahead of Williams' Carlos Sainz, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Alpine's Pierre Gasly.
Charles Leclerc completed the top 10 for Ferrari, with the Monegasque spinning dramatically in a final phase that was then red flagged to allow marshals to recover debris shed by Sainz's car.
Lewis Hamilton had another dismal session, failing to steer his Ferrari through the opening phase for the second weekend in a row and qualifying 18th.
The seven-times world champion also qualified 18th for Saturday's sprint.
Verstappen will not be able to count on teammate Tsunoda for assistance in Sunday's race with the Japanese, looking likely to be replaced by Hadjar next year, set to start well behind in 16th.
- Reuters, with additional reporting from RNZ
