Liam Lawson finds crumb of comfort in Montreal misery

Liam Lawson revealed there was one small silver lining to arguably his worst weekend of the Formula 1 season to date.

Despite the Racing Bulls machinery suggesting across the three practice sessions for the Canadian Grand Prix that it was strong enough for at least a place in Q2, failure to exploit the potential of the new-for-this-season C6 soft tyre cost Lawson severely.

The New Zealander was knocked out in Q1, setting a time only good enough for 19th on the grid, albeit elevated one place due to a 10-place penalty for Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda.

Ahead of the race, the team opted to change power unit components, as well as make suspension alterations, resulting in the penalty of a pit-lane start.

The race was then a struggle, culminating in his retirement with a cooling issue. It was the third time in 10 races this year that Lawson has retired.

"We obviously started from the pit lane because of the PU change, and the car was decent in the race, but starting from the pit lane, there's not really a lot you can do," said Lawson.

"We took a set-up change as well as the PU change, but not really because of anything. The car was already fast, honestly. The PU change was for its own reason."

As to whether there were any positives he could take away from the weekend, Lawson at least found a crumb of comfort.

"The car was fast through practice," he said. "Obviously, it's really disappointing not to come away with anything.

"We will just keep working on that, keep working on the speed, and I'll keep working on myself."