The Racing Bulls driver said a step forward in setup between practice and Sprint Qualifying left him satisfied with his performance, even though the Shanghai circuit proved less suited to the car than the season opener in Australian Grand Prix.
“Yeah, to be honest, I was actually quite happy,” Lawson said.
“We made a good step from practice to quali with setup. And honestly, it was not a bad lap.
“We just struggled a little more here than last week. I think Melbourne really suited our car. And I think here it’s, yeah, it’s not as good for us.
“So we need to try and do some work for tomorrow. Because, yeah, in terms of setup, I actually felt quite happy.”
Lawson also highlighted tyre graining as a major challenge during the session, echoing concerns raised across the field.
“No, it was no good,” he said.
“Similar to everybody, we had a lot of graining. So it’s going to be tough tomorrow for sure.
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“But we saw last year a lot of graining in the Sprint and then less in the race.
“So it’s probably going to change through the weekend. It’s very cold. So yeah.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a challenge tomorrow.”
Racing Bulls head of trackside engineering Mattia Spini said the characteristics of the Shanghai circuit created a difficult start to the first Sprint weekend of the season.
“The Shanghai circuit is quite different to Melbourne, with a lot more time spent cornering at lower speeds,” he said.
“With it being the first Sprint weekend of the season, we expected Friday to be quite challenging and that’s pretty much what we saw.”
Spini explained that both Lawson and teammate Arvid Lindblad managed to progress to SQ2 but admitted the team lacked the pace required to challenge for the final segment of qualifying.
Despite starting outside the points-paying positions for the Sprint, he said he believed opportunities could arise in the shorter race.
“We’re not currently in the point-scoring positions, but the focus now is on preparing for the Sprint, which could be an eventful session,” Spini said.
“We need to be ready to take any opportunity that comes our way, and the start, together with tyre management, will be key tomorrow morning.”
Spini added that further setup work remains ahead of the remainder of the weekend.
“We’ll keep working on improving the car and PU setup ahead of Qualifying, as there’s still some pace to find compared to our competitors,” he said.
Mercedes dominates Sprint Qualifying with 1-2 in Chinese GP
