Liam Lawson Opens Up: Racing Bulls Plan ‘Played Too Much Into Our Minds’

Liam Lawson says Racing Bulls’ conservative qualifying approach at Abu Dhabi costs him a Q3 berth, leaving him 13th for the season finale at Yas Marina.

The margins are razor-thin. The bottom eight in Q2 sit within 0.076s, with Lawson missing out by 0.043s.

Racing Bulls deploys three soft sets in Q1 as insurance, restricting Lawson to used rubber for his second Q2 run and blunting peak grip when it matters.

Lawson concedes the team “played it a bit conservative,” adding the tyre state hides a car he believes is quick enough for the top ten.

Preparation also suffers. He cedes FP1 to Ayumu Iwasa, compressing learning time into later sessions and reducing scope to refine the qualifying approach.

With Yas Marina rewarding execution, small errors and tyre offsets decide progression. The strategy leaves little margin to recover.

Context drives caution. Racing Bulls sits sixth in the constructors’, 12 points clear of Aston Martin and 19 ahead of Haas into Sunday.

Rivals qualify strongly. Fernando Alonso starts sixth, Esteban Ocon eighth, and Isack Hadjar ninth, placing pressure on Lawson to move forward on Sunday.

Lawson targets overtakes and clean windows to unlock race pace, but he expects the midfield to run tightly matched on long runs and tyre degradation.

Racing Bulls plans to recalibrate aggression with tyre allocation, seeking track position without compromising race flexibility or stint offsets.

With the championship picture at stake on December 7, every fraction matters. The team aims to convert a difficult Saturday into points and defend sixth.

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Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller reports on Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends with race-day analysis, team-radio highlights, and point-standings updates. He explains power-unit upgrades, aerodynamic developments, and driver rivalries in straightforward, SEO-friendly language for a global F1 audience.