Lawson had his sights set on an even better result had he not caught Alonso so quickly

Liam Lawson is still fighting to keep his Racing Bulls seat. His qualifying performance for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix could help him hold on to it. The young New Zealander finished highest of the entire Red Bull family, including its former drivers, and had his sights set on an even better result.

At the start of Q3, it was crucial to get a good lap on the board as quickly as possible. Lawson did exactly that. After the opening flying laps, he was provisionally third behind George Russell and Lando Norris. Although he did not improve his time, he dropped just two places.

“Yeah, it was tricky, but the car was quick all through quali, so in the wet and on the inter as well. But I didn’t get to finish the last lap. It’s a shame,” said Liam Lawson, explaining why he had slipped back. “I think we could have been higher. But obviously, fortunately, we’re going to inherit a couple of places,” he added, referring to the penalties for Russell and Leclerc.

Lawson could realistically have hoped to beat Kimi Antonelli as well and start Sunday’s race on the front row. This year’s champion admitted he had been too cautious in qualifying. That was part of the reason he was only two tenths quicker than Lawson, despite having two attempts to Lawson’s one.

Racing Bulls were initially happy with Lawson’s position behind Fernando Alonso. Their only regret, it seems, is that he did not leave a bigger gap to the Spaniard. “I think as a driver you want to maximise it and I feel like we didn’t quite today. We’re in a really good place out of the box. Obviously we get lucky with the pit lane that we’re further down than the top teams. So I went out there and then I caught Fernando too much on the first lap and had to abort the second one. And then I didn’t get to really maximise it.”

Third place is hardly a bad result, given that Lawson completed just one timed lap. “I mean, if it’s wet, it’s good. There’s less spray where we are, which is good.”