The Racing Bulls driver recovered strongly after a difficult Sprint race, where contact with Oliver Bearman saw both drivers receive five-second penalties and a penalty point on their licences.

Despite the setback, Lawson’s qualifying pace helped him secure a solid position on a tightly packed Interlagos grid.

“Yeah, it was good. I think the pace has been very, very good today. At least in quali,” Lawson told Sky Sports.

“We had a very tough race this morning, so, yeah, it’s positive.

“Obviously we’re going to always analyse the details. We lost a little bit of time in the lap and it’s definitely cost us a good few positions, but when it’s this close in these kind of conditions, I think probably everybody’s got that story.

“So, yeah, a decent place for tomorrow.”

Lawson added that the focus for Sunday is clear: scoring points.

“Yeah, trying to score points that’s the target, honestly,” he said.

“Both cars in Q3, obviously, which puts us in a good position. So we’ll definitely give it a good shot.”

Racing Bulls Head of Vehicle Performance Guillaume Dezoteux highlighted the team’s strong recovery after challenging conditions in the Sprint and overnight setup work.

“The weather conditions we found today were certainly better than expected; the track was still damp for the start of the Sprint this morning, but everybody elected to start on the dry tyres,” he said.

“The Sprint race was difficult for us… Liam had a decent start, but out of Turn 3 was pushed onto the grass.

Lawson’s contact with Bearman 🤔 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/s2kpmB2Pne

— WTF1 (@wtf1official) November 8, 2025

“With wet and dirty tyres, he struggled in the following corner and made contact with another car, heavily damaging his floor and bodywork. From there it was tough to recover.”

He praised both drivers’ efforts in qualifying, noting the tight margins across the field.

“Following the overnight analysis, simulator running and the driver’s feedback from the Sprint, we made several setup changes for qualifying, including a downforce level change on Isack,” he added.

“Both drivers did a brilliant job to secure the 5th and 7th positions on the grid and the team managed the progression through session on this very tight field very well – there were 13 cars in less than half a second in Q2!

“We have a long race ahead tomorrow, but we’re starting from a good position.

“The target is clear: score points with both cars.”

Lawson’s seventh-place start also underlines Racing Bulls’ performance relative to the senior Red Bull team, which suffered a double Q1 exit for the first time since 2006 in Japan, leaving Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda 16th and 19th on the grid.

Meanwhile, teammate Isack Hadjar qualified fifth, giving the team a strong front in the midfield battle.

Norris backs up Sprint win with Sao Paulo GP pole, Verstappen out in Q1