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The RB driver was eliminated from the session at the end of Qualifying 2 when his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda crashed at Turn 12.
With red flags shown shortly after the incident, Lawson lost his lap. And with only 10 seconds remaining on the clock, the session did not restart.
It left the New Zealander rueing what might have been.
“Unfortunately, that’s the risk sometimes when you run towards the back,” he admitted.
“If there’s a red flag, that’s what happens.
“We did all the right things; we built up and by quali we were honestly on the limit.
“I feel confident we would have been able to go through [to Q3].
“I was considerably up,” he added of his lap as the red flag was shown.
“Honestly, even just with a normal sector two and three, it should have been enough [to progress].
“But, yeah, it’s how it is sometimes”
In only his second race back in F1, Lawson is this weekend running an older spec car to Tsunoda.
RB has a package in Mexico that includes changes to the floor, offering general performance gains, in addition to some event-specific cooling elements. However, only Tsunoda has the latest floor.
“Basically, I have the car I drove last week and Yuki’s got the upgrades,” Lawson revealed.
“I understand at this time the reasons behind it,” he added.
“Honestly, regardless of the floor, both cars were quick enough for Q3 – at least on our side of the garage I felt like we could have gone through.”
Instead, neither progressed while Haas got both Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg into the top 10, with Alex Albon representing Williams.
RB and Haas are tight on points for sixth in the constructors’ championship, the American-registered operation having stolen that place away in the United States last weekend.
With prize money paid out on a team’s finishing position in that competition, it’s a battle worth millions to both operations.
It made Tsunoda’s mistake additionally painful for the team.
“You don’t often have two cars that are very, very quick and capable of Q3,” Lawson noted.
“Haas have now completely capitalised on that and put both their cars in Q3 and because of what’s happened, we’re both out.”
The United States Grand Prix begins at 07:00 AEDT on Monday.
