Liam Lawson rues 'stupid' mistake that ruined Australian GP qualifying

Liam Lawson was left ruing a "stupid" mistake that dumped him out of qualifying in Q1 for Red Bull at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. After missing FP3 due to a turbo issue, Lawson was dumped out in Q1 following a scrappy final lap in which he ran wide at Turn 10 and then off track at the penultimate Turn 15, going on to abort the final lap. This left him in the dropzone and facing an uphill struggle following a poor Friday in which he was 17th fastest overall.  Reflecting on the situation, Lawson bemoaned the "stupid" mistake that he made. "We overheated the tyres at the end of the lap," Lawson told media including RacingNews365. "Honestly, it wasn't bad, and the lap we were on was perfectly fine, I just had a snap through the high-speed [of Turn 10], and I think it oveheated the tyres and the last sector was basically gone.  "It is hard to know, but we were on a good lap, I think it would have been well in Q2, but we made a big step today, or at least Max did with the car, it was in a bit of a window which was positive. "Obviously for me in not doing the laps [in FP3] was pretty tough, and it was pretty costly in not doing much quali prep for the day.  "I don't think it is car-specfic, it is not like this car is way harder to drive and that is why I made mistakes, it is just a tough track and a lack of driving and then being stupid."