Liam Lawson made it all the way to Q3 where he managed P8 at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP Qualifying. Although he is still adapting to the RB22, he has made it to Q3 twice with Red Bull Racing. He hopes to recover lost points from a clash with Hülkenberg at the Italian GP.
Q3 could’ve been better at the 2026 Spanish GP Qualifying
Lawson wasn’t so sure the F1 Spanish GP Qualifying was strong. He thinks they were less competitive as it progressed. The 24-year-old admits he is still adjusting to the car as he isn’t familiar on what and how much to do regarding turns of front wing during it to keep up with the track changing.
In Q1, the New Zealander led for a time as he clocked a 1:33.3 early doors, before the Mercedes duo pipped him.
He continues to explain that they lost balance and was self-critical of his lap. The Nea Zealander says it could’ve been tidier making them more competitive during Q3 of the 2026 F1 Spanish GP Qualifying; he ended up 0.022s slower than Oscar Piastri.
“Yeah, I mean just overall through quali we sort of just somehow got less competitive from where we started, which from where we were this morning I don’t really understand, but yeah it’s obviously something to review. With this car it’s obviously new to me, you know, what we sort of do through qualifying.
“Obviously in my car I know obviously what we traditionally do with front wing and things like that is the track evolves, but it’s less sort of clear to me in this car and I think by Q3, yeah we sort of lost a little bit of the balance and it wasn’t the tidiest, so it’s a shame because I think we were very competitive before that.
Biggest challenge: tyres
The Kiwi brought up tyres as the biggest challenge of the F1 Spanish GP Qualifying. Lawson struggled in sector three as the tyres got worse. The end of the lap features low-speed corners, so traction was a struggle after lots of high-speed through most of the lap.
He continues that the other major factors for his performance at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP Qualifying were balance and confidence in the car.
“I think tyres for me honestly sort of having them in the right window, especially through the lap for us, towards the end of the lap I was struggling a lot in sector three, so I don’t know, and it wasn’t something we had earlier so that definitely got worse, but I think outside of that just balance this weekend and confidence in the car.”
Learning from Verstappen ahead of the 2026 F1 Spanish GP
The Red Bull driver thinks the balance was related to the tyre overheating as the lap went on. Some drivers took it a fraction easier early in the laps, meaning it paid off for sector 3.
Lawson wants to work on a balance that holds throughout the session. He looks to Verstappen for answers on how to improve his performance in the RB22.
“Yeah, I think it’s probably more tyre related, just having a tyre that lasts through the whole lap. Obviously as you push more through quali as well you’re using more of the tyre, putting a lot more energy through it and that makes the second half of the lap worse as well.
“So yeah, outside of that just having a balance that evolves through qualifying is something I’ll reflect, have a look at what Max did obviously and see if there’s any answers there.”
