The New Zealander reached SQ3 for Racing Bulls before qualifying ninth, one place ahead of teammate Arvid Lindblad, as the team again emerged as the best of the rest behind Formula 1’s leading four squads.
It marked Lawson’s fourth consecutive top-10 qualifying result across both sprint and grand prix qualifying, continuing his recent run of form after another impressive Friday performance.
However, with only the top eight scoring points in Saturday’s sprint and Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren filling the first eight places, Lawson admitted Racing Bulls faces a difficult task to break into the points.
“If they all finish, probably not. Which sucks. But for sure I’ll try,” Lawson said when asked if points were realistic.
“We’ll try and get a good start and see where we can get in the first few corners. But I think pace wise, normally in the long runs they’re a bit ahead of us anyway.
“So we’re very focused on quali tomorrow and the race on Sunday.”
Lawson finished behind Isack Hadjar in eighth, with Lewis Hamilton on sprint pole ahead of Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Despite the challenge ahead in the sprint, Lawson was encouraged by the consistency Racing Bulls has found after another clean run through qualifying.
“Yeah it’s good. Cars really good. It’s been good all day. We’ve honestly barely changed anything,” Lawson said.
“So that’s been something that’s been really good for us recently. We’ve come to these weekends and been quite aggressive and it’s been working.
“It’s a good starting position for tomorrow.”
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Lawson had earlier shown strong pace in SQ2, finishing fourth in that segment before slipping behind the leading four teams when the final runs played out in SQ3.
The 24-year-old said one of the bigger challenges at Silverstone had been managing energy deployment, with drivers needing enough battery to prepare the tyres while also leaving enough available for the lap.
“It’s definitely tough. It wasn’t super warm today so you actually need the energy to put the temperature in the tyres,” Lawson said.
“But you can’t obviously spend too much of it because you don’t have enough to start your lap.
“And then through your lap as well, as we’re getting faster we’re just running out of energy.
“So it’s been very different here compared to some of the tracks previously. But I think for our sake, the team’s done a great job. And we’ve been in a good place today.”
Lindblad completed a strong day for Racing Bulls by reaching SQ3 and qualifying 10th, although the British rookie was less satisfied with his own performance in the final part of the session.
“The team have done a really good job. Again two cars in Q3 was really good,” Lindblad said.
“For myself, it’s not been the easiest day. We had a few issues with the deployment in Q1. And we just managed to get it fixed for Q2.
“It still wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough. And then in Q3 I don’t know. I just wasn’t very quick. So I need to understand why.
“It felt quite different to what I was expecting. Wasn’t really that much more grip. Just need to look into why.
“I think for myself it’s been an okay day. But the team have done a good job to help us out.”
Like Lawson, Lindblad was realistic about Racing Bulls’ chances of fighting the cars ahead in the sprint, suggesting the race could be more valuable as preparation for Sunday’s grand prix.
“For us, I’m not sure. I mean realistically I don’t think we’re really going to be fighting the guys in front,” Lindblad said.
“In quali we can be somewhat close, but they do have a pace advantage. They’re always much better in the race.
“So I don’t think we’re going to be really fighting much further forward. I think it’s going to be very much about learning about what this car is like in the race for Sunday.
“And obviously trying to do a good race.”
Saturday’s British Grand Prix Sprint is scheduled for 12pm local time (9pm AEST).
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