Lawson will start Saturday’s 19-lap Sprint from 15th after his lap time in SQ2 on Friday was deleted.
The New Zealander had his 1:34.284s scrubbed, leaving him without a recorded time in the second segment of the three-part session.
The deleted lap would have left him 12th fastest.
“Obviously, we get one lap in Q2, and it was just really scrappy,” Lawson admitted.
“From Turn 1, I already went wide on the kerb and got massive wheelspin, and then obviously you’re trying to make up time throughout the rest of the lap.
“Just a scrappy lap. It’s a shame because the car’s really fast.
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“To be honest, I actually felt really good and comfortable.
“We’ll learn from it for tomorrow.”
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It marked Lawson’s first F1 qualifying session since the Qatar Grand Prix over a year ago.
His deleted lap was just 0.04s slower than Sergio Perez, and two-tenths off RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda who progressed to SQ3 in 10th.
In Free Practice 1 earlier in the day, Lawson was 13th fastest, just a tenth down on his team-mate.
“It was all going really good, to be honest,” said the Kiwi.
“The build-up earlier was good, and then the SQ1 was good as well.
“Just finding things here and there.
“I think I would’ve rather had three practice sessions,” he added of the Sprint format, which affords teams just an hour of free practice all weekend.
“But obviously, at least this way, I’m sort of forced to get on with it and work with what we’ve got, and basically, that’s what we’re doing.”
While Lawson will start the Sprint from 15th, he’ll line up for Sunday’s race from the rear of the grid after his team elected to introduce new power unit elements into his pool.
“I think the car’s quite fast,” he said.
“The race I guess tomorrow will be more of a warm-up for Sunday; obviously I’ll be off the back of the grid for Sunday anyway, but it’ll all be good to learn tomorrow to try and take that stuff forward for Sunday.”
The United States Grand Prix Sprint begins at 13:00 local time on Saturday (05:00 AEDT Sunday).
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