Liam Lawson lays blame after latest Red Bull 'frustration'

Liam Lawson laid the blame for his latest qualifying 'frustration' at the door of tyres he claims were "too hot" as he started his bid to move up the grid in the sprint shootout for the Chinese Grand Prix.

After qualifying a wretched 19th in his debut session for Red Bull at last weekend's Australian Grand Prix, all eyes were on Lawson in the first of this weekend's one-lap showdowns at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Remarkably, the 22-year-old New Zealander emerged slowest from SQ1 and will start an embarrassing last on the grid, in stark contrast to four-time F1 champion team-mate Max Verstappen who came within 0.018s of securing pole position.

The key moment for Lawson was during his second outing in SQ1 when he ran comfortably beyond track limits at Turn 10, sealing his fate of failing to escape the first session.

Explaining as to what unfolded, Lawson said: "Just the second lap I went off. It's obviously a shame.

"From a starting point, it wasn't too bad. The first lap was alright, and then we were looking to build on there, but we stayed out to try to cool the tyres on track, and to be honest, I really struggled to get the temps down at the start of the second lap.

"Basically, we started too hot, and then through the lap, I just struggled. It's frustrating."

The sprint will now be nothing more than a learning exercise for Lawson ahead of qualifying for Sunday's grand prix when he knows he will be under intense pressure to deliver.

Aware of what is at stake, he said: "Our pace should be a lot further up than where we are.

"Obviously, we have tomorrow's sprint race to try and learn some stuff. And then tomorrow's quali, we want to do a better job than this."