The Racing Bulls driver ended the session 17th, missing the cut for SQ2 by just six hundredths of a second.
Lawson explained that a combination of errors and misfortune derailed his session from the outset.
“It was a series of bad events to be honest through Q1,” he said.
“A little bit misplaced on the garage exit and ended up a lot further back on track and didn’t have a very good out lap. And then I had a big flat spot in Turn 1 and destroyed the tyre so.
“I tried to do the second lap on the flat spotted tyre and just had a lot of vibrations. So yeah, knocked us out unfortunately.
“I think the car has actually improved from this morning, so it’s a shame.”
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After the Kiwi’s early exit, attention quickly shifted to a potential track limits breach from Alex Albon — the driver who knocked Lawson out in the closing moments — briefly raising hopes of a reprieve.
Lawson was briefly kept on standby in the Racing Bulls garage as uncertainty emerged over the Thai driver’s lap, with Albon suspected of exceeding track limits.
However, no immediate action was taken, and Albon progressed to SQ2 while Lawson remained sidelined, a situation that left the New Zealander struggling to make sense of the process.
“Ah no, Alex [Albon] he did track limits. But I think they realised too late and because he had already gone out on track, I honestly can’t understand how that is possible,” Lawson said.
“But from our understanding, he’s literally done track limits and then gone through to Q2.”
After initially being placed under investigation by the stewards, the FIA later confirmed the case had been referred for review before a final ruling determined Albon had exceeded track limits at Turn 6 during his final SQ1 lap.
The breach resulted in the deletion of both his fastest SQ1 time and all SQ2 laps, dropping the Williams driver from a provisional P14 to P19 for the sprint.
Lawson’s teammate Arvid Lindblad progressed to SQ2 but could only manage 16th on the grid.
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