Liam Lawson puzzled by Red Bull regression: 'I don't really understand'

Liam Lawson was left confused by his Red Bull becoming increasingly uncompetitive during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Lawson, who is still deputising for the injured Isack Hadjar in the RB22, could only go eighth-fastest in the grid-setting session at the Madring.

His final push lap was three-and-a-half tenths slower than Max Verstappen, who qualified third in the sister car.

Reflecting on his effort, Lawson contended that it could have been cleaner, but was predominantly concerned by his increasing lack of pace.

"Overall, through qualifying, we just somehow got less competitive than where we started," the 24-year-old told media, including RacingNews365. "Which, from where we were this morning, I don't really understand.

"It's something to review. With this car, it's obviously new to me what we do through qualifying.

"In my [usual] car, I know what we traditionally do with the front wing and things like that as the track evolves.

"But it's less clear to me in this car, and I think by Q3, we lost a little bit of the balance, and it wasn't the tidiest. So it's a shame, because I think we were very competitive before that."

Red Bull tyre management 'definitely got worse'

Like many of his peers, Lawson struggled to maintain tyre temperatures on the hot, punishing surface of the all-new circuit, with the long-radius banked La Monumental halfway through the lap putting considerable load through the rubber.

That left him unable to get the most out of the machinery at his disposal through the final part of the lap.

"Tyres for me, honestly, having them in the right window, especially through the lap," Lawson said when asked what the biggest challenge of qualifying was.

"For us, towards the end of the lap, I was struggling a lot in Sector 3.

"And it wasn't something we had earlier, so that definitely got worse. But I think outside of that, just balance this weekend and confidence in the car."

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