Liam Lawson takes blame for key error despite equaling F1 career-best

Liam Lawson has taken the blame for a key error in Q3 at a treacherous Sao Paulo GP qualifying, which he feels cost him a shot at a career-best result.

Lawson qualified in fifth place on the road at Interlagos in the heavily delayed qualifying ahead of the race, but will be promoted to third place after George Russell and Charles Leclerc take grid penalties from second and fourth, respectively.

It equals Lawson's career-best grid spot, which was third at the 2025 Azerbaijan GP, but the New Zealander described how in Q3, he got too close to the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, which caused him to catch the two-time champion in the dreadfully wet conditions - and have to back off. 

"I think we had a good chance, and we had a very strong car, so we were very good at the call to go to inters in Q2," Lawson began to media, including RacingNews365.

 "That's what probably put us up there initially, but in Q3, I think we had a good chance at fighting the front guys, but I just did not make a big enough gap. It is my fault.

"These cars have a lot of horsepower and not much grip, and so you are sliding around, and it is a shame, as I made a gap to Fernando, but I caught him too much on the first lap.

"Then I had to abort the last lap, which probably ended up being the optimal one, and then it rained.

"But we get a couple of places [due to the penalties], so we start in a good place. I didn't qualify third; I qualified fifth, so it is still a good place to start, and I'll take the two positions, but you always want to maximise as a driver."

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Lawson looks ahead to Sao Paulo GP

Looking ahead to the race, Lawson predicted that if conditions were similar to qualifying, it would be a chaotic race with "red flags."

"It is going to be interesting. When it rains, the problem is that it rains so heavily that you can't really drive," he added.

"There was a period in qualifying when we got quite lucky, where it was just consistent, but if it was like the rain before qualifying, then you can't really race.

"So if it rains out there [in the race], there'll be some red flags.

"When we started, it was extremely sketchy, and we were definitely pushing it.

"I like the fact that we were out there and not in the garage, and it was risky, but there wasn't an accident. But at the start, it was definitely borderline, as there was a lot of aquaplaning."