Liam Lawson will begin Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix from ninth place, marking his equal-second best qualifying result in 2025 and just his third time reaching Q3 this season. Despite this strong showing for the Racing Bulls driver, Lawson acknowledged that a minor error prevented him from securing a higher grid position.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Lawson said,
“Honestly, yeah. I think the car was in the best place it’s been,”
before explaining,
“Just tiny mistakes, well, one small mistake to be honest, that cost a bit of lap time.”
He noted how frustrating it was to miss out on fifth place by just a small margin, adding,
“When the margin for P5 is a tenth and a half away or whatever it is, so it’s frustrating.”
Despite the setback, Lawson remains focused on race day.
“I do feel like we missed out on today. Obviously tomorrow’s the important day to perform,”
he said.
Looking Back at Silverstone and Adjusting Race Strategy
Lawson is eager to bounce back from a disappointing incident at Silverstone, where he was involved in a first-lap collision after adopting a cautious approach. Reflecting on that event, he admitted,
“If I look back to a couple of weeks ago, I was almost too cautious,”
and added,
“I knew we were going to have a quick race car and it ended up wiping me out. So tomorrow we’ll just try and make the best out of it.”
Anticipating Weather Challenges and Track Conditions
Weather forecasts suggest rain could affect Sunday’s race, which brings added complexity to navigating the iconic Eau Rouge section. Lawson shared his thoughts on how the weather influenced the team’s qualifying decisions:
“I think everyone has probably taken that into consideration today and maybe compromised a bit.”
He plans to stay calm regardless of rain:
“I think for me I’m not going to stress about whether it rains or not and just try and drive as fast as I can tomorrow.”
On the specific challenge of Eau Rouge in wet conditions, Lawson added,
“Eau Rouge is going to be quick in the wet. So if it does start wet, it’s going to rain tomorrow, if it is at the start, but yeah, let’s see.”
Team Dynamics under New Principal Alan Permane
This qualifying performance comes during Alan Permane’s debut weekend as team principal of Racing Bulls. Permane assumed the role following Laurent Mekies’ promotion to Red Bull, which occurred after Christian Horner’s unexpected dismissal. Encouraged by the team’s progress after a frustrating sprint event on Friday, Permane commented, “It was very good.”
He further explained,
“We were a bit fed up yesterday actually. Even though we qualified in the sprint reasonably well, we felt we had more potential than that. So we spent a lot of time looking at what we could’ve done better… and it paid off today.”
Permane highlighted that balance tweaks helped both drivers on Saturday, while the core car setup remained consistent despite potential rain.
“We didn’t change the downforce levels or anything,”
he said.
“So we just tweaked the balance to what the guys had in sprint qualifying and then of course we had 14 laps this morning to really feel the car.”
Grid Positions and Race Prospects
Liam Lawson will start the Belgian GP one place behind teammate Isack Hadjar, who secured eighth in qualifying. This positions both drivers well to capitalize on race conditions, especially with the expected rain adding an unpredictable element to the day. As qualifying underscored tight competition, with Lando Norris clinching pole ahead of <a href="https://www.buzzineintl.com/tag/oscar-piastri/”>Oscar Piastri, Lawson and Hadjar will hope to translate their solid performances into strong race results.
Our Reader’s Queries
Q. Why did Liam Lawson lose his seat?
A. During three Red Bull qualifying sessions, Lawson couldn’t improve in the last run twice because he made mistakes. This showed he was pushing himself to the limit. He only improved on his last try during the main race qualifying in China.
Q. How did Liam Lawson lose his seat?
A. This was the first major race of the year in Australia. During the initial qualifying round, Lawson’s lap was over a second slower than Verstappen’s. He fell short by more than half a second to make it to the second round, owing to a rough final lap.
Q. Has Liam Lawson got a seat in 2025?
A. In 2025, Lawson moved up to the senior Red Bull team from Racing Bulls, replacing Sergio Perez as Max Verstappen’s teammate.