Lawson is the only one of the two RBs to start in the top half of the field after team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was bundled out in Qualifying 1.

The New Zealander was only 14th best in opening practice, while Tsunoda was fifth, before Lawson made strong progress in Sprint Qualifying.

“Big step honestly,” said Lawson of the progress he made following Free Practice 1.

“We were not very fast earlier so you just make it more difficult for yourself.

“We had to put a lot of effort in, personally as well to make this step, but it was cool to do that.

“It’s a shame that we got a lap deleted in Q3, it’s one position but it all makes a difference.

“But honestly happy with the step we’ve made.”

With points paid down only to eighth in the Sprint, Lawson will have to move forward if he’s any hope of adding to his tally.

He starts alongside Nico Hulkenberg on the fifth row, directly behind Pierre Gasly.

Haas, Alpine, and RB are locked together in a battle for sixth in the constructors’ championship, with just four points between the three teams.

With that competition so close, even a single point from the Sprint could prove to be enormously valuable.

Encouragingly, Lawson believes there’s more potential in the car.

“There’s always more to extract and I think we’ll obviously work on that overnight,” he reasoned.

“We did a brief long run earlier, everybody did, so I think we’ll go through those numbers and see where everybody’s at and try and move forward.

“That one position is going to hurt us tomorrow because now we have to try and make up two [places] for any points.

“It’s very close; I think it’s Alpine and a Haas and myself all in a row, and we’re fighting each other for the constructors’, so it’s important.”

The Qatar Sprint begins at 17:00 local time today (01:00 AEDT Sunday).