The Racing Bulls driver completed only a handful of laps across Friday before stopping on track during the opening practice session, with the team unable to repair the car in time for sprint qualifying later in the day.
Lawson pulled over at Turn 4 early in FP1 after what the team suspected was a hydraulic problem, triggering the first of three red flags in a heavily disrupted session that was eventually topped by Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli.
Speaking after missing sprint qualifying, Lawson admitted the lack of running had left him on the back foot heading into the remainder of the weekend.
“Yeah it’s frustrating,” Lawson said.
“I mean obviously tomorrow is definitely more important. But obviously this also really doesn’t help tomorrow as well because I’ve done two laps, three laps all day.
“So yeah, it’s a shame. The car looks really good as well.
“Like looking at quali at the moment, the pace is looking really good.
“And I felt good as well in the first couple laps this morning.
“So, yeah, plenty of positives at least that we have good speed. We just need to hopefully have a good day tomorrow.
“Try and learn what we can in the sprint and then put it all into qualifying.”
Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane had earlier described the issue as a frustrating blow given the limited running available on a sprint weekend.
“Yeah, very frustrating. And especially in a Sprint weekend, it’s tough to lose the car so early on,” Permane said.
“Hydraulic leak. As I came up here, we didn’t have the car back yet, so I don’t know how serious it is.
“It could be something very simple and we’re out comfortably for the next session, or it could be something a bit more terminal.
“So, yeah, watch this space.”
Lawson said the lack of track time would be particularly costly around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where drivers only had a single practice session before competitive running began.
“I think in a weekend that is a sprint, already it’s tough to get that track time,” he said.
“Like FP1 is really, really important to put the laps together because that’s the only actual practice we get. The rest of the time we are in competition and sort of performance mode.
“So it definitely makes it really tough on a weekend like this. Also this track is quite hard, as you said. It’s a bit unique.
“So luckily I’ve been here before, but it’s going to be tough for sure.
“Like I’m going to be playing catch up tomorrow. And obviously the way that we drive in the sprints can be different to qualifying.
“So I think qualifying will be the biggest step that I have to make.
“And I’ll be doing what I can to prepare for that.”
Despite Lawson’s absence, Racing Bulls showed encouraging pace in sprint qualifying, with teammate Arvid Lindblad securing ninth on the grid, directly behind the two Red Bull Racing entries of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.
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