25/07/2025 21:30
Liam Lawson labelled the small margins around Spa-Francorchamps as
"crazy" after suffering an early exit from sprint qualifying.
Lawson ended the second segment of the outing in 11th place, 0.041s
down on Oscar Piastri ahead of him in 10th. The New Zealander is
confident he could have progressed into the final stage if not for
a minor mistake in the final corner. "I'm a little bit frustrated,"
Lawson said. "It's just small margins, which is crazy around here
because it's such a long lap. "The car has been fast, I was on a
lap that was probably plenty good enough but I had a small issue in
the last chicane. "It's just tiny things that make a difference, so
it's knocked us out." While he was left disappointed with his
result, Lawson is still in contention for points in the shorter
sprint race, which pays out to the top eight finishers. After the
race, the cars are allowed to undergo changes ahead of qualifying
for the grand prix, which Lawson sees as an opportunity to improve
on his Friday result. "It depends on our race pace obviously but
we'll take the learnings from today and apply to qualifying
tomorrow," he said. "Like every other weekend, it's just extracting
every little bit out of the car. The wind changes makes quite a big
difference, as it did at Silverstone. "It's sensitive stuff, trying
to maximise stuff, for us as well as drivers, trying to put
everything together. Normally when you do that, it's enough to go
through."
