Racing Bulls endured a difficult session during Sprint Qualifying for the 2026 F1 Singapore GP. Liam Lawson made it through to SQ3 after the team made changes that improved the car across the session and qualified P8. Arvid Lindblad was eliminated in SQ1, with a moment under braking at Turn 13 costing him the lap time he needed to progress. Both drivers spoke to F1 TV after the session.
Lawson on his Sprint Qualifying performance with Racing Bulls
Liam Lawson was pleased with how the session developed. Racing Bulls had been solid in FP1, but the 24-year-old from New Zealand was not particularly happy with car balance. Changes made ahead of the session and cooler evening conditions helped the car find a better window.
“Yeah, pretty happy. Honestly, we weren’t that strong earlier today, and we made some changes, and I think maybe as well that cooling off a little bit helped us. But, yeah, no, it was good, honestly. Q2 was probably the better lap, honestly. The soft, it was the first time we’d run it today. I think, I guess, probably the same for Pierre. So it was a little bit unknown. A lot more grip than expected, to be honest. But, yeah, very happy,” stated Lawson.
Lawson reflected on whether the progress through practice and into Sprint Qualifying gave him reason for optimism heading into the Sprint and the rest of the weekend. He was confident about Racing Bulls’ position but acknowledged the challenge of holding off those behind.
“Yeah, I mean, we’re in a good place. Obviously, Isack will be fast behind, so I’m sure it’ll be tough to keep him there for the race. But, obviously, that’s the target. We’re, at the moment, in one position point, so we’ll try and stay there.”
Lindblad on his early elimination during Sprint Qualifying at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP
Lindblad lost significant time on his only representative lap after a moment under braking at Turn 13, dropping out in SQ1. He pointed to the unique difficulty of arriving at a street circuit with only one practice run behind him. The conditions in FP1 had been very different to the night-time Sprint Qualifying session.
“It was okay, it’s probably the toughest situation for me. Obviously coming here, it’s a very challenging track being a street circuit only with one practice session in very different conditions that we have now and qualifying in the night. And obviously it being a sprint weekend it was already harder.
“I just wanted to be able to do a couple laps in SQ1 to be able to build myself into the session. Obviously only having one lap was just made things a bit more difficult for me,” Lindblad stated as the red flag of Sergio Pérez did not help.
Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad felt satisfied with the rest of his lap in Sprint Qualifying for the 2026 F1 Singapore GP. The Turn 13 moment was the difference between progressing and going out. He stopped short of calling it a mistake.
“The lap was okay, I don’t know why I had a bit of a moment in braking of 13 where I lost quite a bit there and yeah that was it, the rest of the lap was fine. So yeah, if I hadn’t done that then I would have gone through but I don’t, I wouldn’t really call it a mistake in the end it was, I was forced to push because of the situation so yeah that’s what it is.”
Lindblad on using the Sprint Race to build for Saturday’s qualifying
Lindblad discussed how he planned to use the Sprint Race ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session for Sunday’s Grand Prix. With points unlikely from the sprint, his focus had always been on the bigger picture heading into the rest of the Racing Bulls’ 2026 F1 Singapore GP weekend.
“I think for me it’s just to do a few more laps, get a bit more comfortable with the circuit. But obviously it’s a bit of a shame you know just honestly just from a point of view of doing less laps on low fuel. Because obviously the focus for me I was never you know there wasn’t a heavy amount of focus on the Sprint.
“It was always more about qualifying because really we knew realistically that it was gonna be hard to score points anyway. Even if we do a magical job let’s say we need someone to break down in the top four teams to score a point. So it was always more about qualifying, and I just think just doing less laps on low fuel is just a bit of a shame, but it is what it is,” Lindblad concluded.
