Liam Lawson concedes going 'a step too far' after narrow F1 rival defeat

Liam Lawson believes he "took it a step too far" with how aggressive he was during Q3 in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, after losing out to Pierre Gasly.

Lawson's Racing Bulls machine had performed strongly throughout the first two segments of qualifying at Marina Bay, and was fourth in Q1, and then eighth in Q2. 

However, at the end of Q3, he had slipped to ninth as Alpine driver Gasly nipped ahead for the highest-placed non-Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, or Mercedes driver, on the road, as George Russell's penalty will see both promoted one place higher. 

It means Gasly will start seventh with Lawson in eighth on the fourth row, with the teams two engaged in a strong battle for fifth in the constructors', with Racing Bulls currently ahead by 94 points to 68 - aided by Lawson's scoring an equal-career highest finish of fifth in the Sprint race earlier in the day.

However, reflecting on his qualifying, Lawson felt he had gone "too far", with Gasly ultimately ahead by 0.174s. 

"It has been a very strong weekend so far, and I'm obviously very happy with where the car is at," Lawson told media, including RacingNews365.

"We had a strong qualifying [for the Sprint] and a strong qualifying [for the grand prix], but Q3 just did not come together, so it is a little bit frustrating, but obviously [Sunday] is an important day. 

"I just went quite aggressive to try and maximise the [Q3 lap], and on top of that, I pushed quite hard and just had a big slide and cooked the rear tyres, so a bit frustrating. 

"I feel at this stage of the year with this car, I feel very good to just get in and push it - and it showed [in Sprint Qualifying], and unfortunately, when trying to maximise it [in grand prix qualifying], we took it a step too far, but you get two shots at it, which is quite cool for me."

When then asked where he could have been had he completed the Q3 lap, Lawson replied he would have been "just in front of [Gasly], it is one place, but it is an important place for us."

The article continues below. 

Gasly hoping for 'wild ride'

Reacting to the eighth-place finish on the road, and 'best of the rest' status, Gasly felt his extraction of pace from the A526 machine was "his best" of the year, and also made a quip about those ahead getting off the line and down into Turn 1 for the grand prix start.

"I must say, I think it was one of my best Q3 laps of the year in terms of really extracting [performance]," said Gasly.

"On a Sprint weekend, there's not much time to really take the car right on the edge everywhere and putting all the corners together on a tricky street track is not easy.

"It wasn't the easiest Q1 or Q2 in terms of feeling, and in Q3, I took this extra risk, and the last attempt really paid off to beat the Racing Bulls, so I am really happy.

"I hope the guys ahead can feel quite wild into Turn 1, and hopefully give us a few chances.

"In the last few weekends, I think we've been in Q3 in the last four races, but somehow we haven't scored that many points because we've always gone wrong on Sunday for whatever reason. 

"So as much as I would like a bit of chaos, hopefully it doesn't involve us, and we can translate this good qualifying into points."