Lawson recorded the 17th best of the session as he was eliminated at the end of Qualifying 1.
However, his final flying lap was compromised when his DRS flap closed midway down the back straight.
The Racing Bulls missed the cut by just over a tenth of a second.
“I don’t know why it closed but it’s obviously something I did,” he said.
“I’ll learn from it, definitely, because it’s completely screwed us today.
“As to why it [closed], I don’t know.”
While only able to be opened in selected areas of the circuit, and under certain criteria, the DRS flap is designed to automatically close when the driver either lifts off the throttle or applies the brakes.
The tolerance for the throttle percentage needed to trigger the system’s closure can be changed, though, and is typically around 20 percent.
A driver can also manually trigger the system to close via a control on the steering wheel.
Lawson’s frustrations with the system were compounded by his Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar, who qualified 12th fastest.
It leaves the New Zealander down the order heading into Sunday’s race where strategy expected to play a key role given the difference between a one-stop versus two-stop race is marginal.
“When you’re buried [in the pack] it’s not ideal for the tyres and everything,” Lawson said.
“It’s going to be quite tough but obviously we have the speed to move forward.
“We definitely we had the speed to be in Q2, maybe even Q3 today,” he added.
“Obviously we’ll try and move forward but it’s going to be a tough race.”
The Bahrain Grand Prix begins at 01:00 AEST on Saturday morning, with Oscar Piastri set to line up on pole position.
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