Formula 1: Liam Lawson ruled out of Canada sprint qualifying as hydraulic leak ruins Kiwi’s car
Liam Lawson at the Canadian Grand Prix. Photo / Red Bull
Liam Lawson’s Canada sprint qualifying session was over before it began, after the Kiwi’s Racing Bulls car suffered terminal damage in practice.
The Kiwi will start tomorrow morning’s 23-lap sprint race from the back row after a hydraulic leak limited him to five laps in practice before he was forced to stop at turn two, triggering a red flag.
Lawson complained of a loss of power steering and was unable to leave the track without assistance.
Despite the hours between practice and sprint qualifying, Racing Bulls’ mechanics were unable to repair the fault in time, meaning Lawson was unable to complete a lap at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
“It’s frustrating,” Lawson said. “Tomorrow is definitely more important, but this doesn’t help.
“It’s a shame, the car looks really good as well. The pace is looking really good, and I felt good as well in the first couple of laps this morning.
“Plenty of positives, we have good speed. We just need to have a good day tomorrow, learn what we can in the sprint and put it all into qualifying.”
Being unable to take part in sprint qualifying leaves Lawson at a disadvantage for tomorrow morning’s race and grand prix qualifying, thanks to the lack of time on track – having only had about 12 minutes before the fault ended his day.
Furthermore, while there was no on-track punishment, Racing Bulls were also fined nearly $60,000 after Lawson’s clutch disengagement system (CDS) did not activate.
However, the FIA’s ruling also found the marshal was pushing the wrong button when attempting to activate the CDS.
The CDS is integral to the safe removal of a car by marshals. It allows a crashed or stopped car to have its clutch disengaged by stewards without the engine running.
If found to be in breach of the FIA’s Article C9.3, Lawson could be handed a punishment by the stewards to carry into sprint qualifying, if not the race itself.
The issues are the latest for Lawson, who was forced out of the Miami Grand Prix this month after a mechanical failure left him unable to avoid contact with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, and the resulting crash ended both drivers’ races.
Lawson wasn’t the only driver to be forced out of sprint qualifying. Williams’ Alex Albon suffered terminal damage in practice after he ran over a groundhog and hit the wall at the chicane between turn six and seven, with that damage also too much to overcome.
At the front of the grid, George Russell got one back on teammate Kimi Antonelli by taking pole position as Mercedes locked out the front row. While Russell was the hot favourite to win the 2026 drivers’ championship, he trails Antonelli by 20 points at the top of the standings.
Russell put in the best lap of the day, 1m 12.965s, to qualify 0.068s ahead of the 19-year-old.
World champion Lando Norris took third, 0.315s back from Russell, as McLaren filled the second row with Oscar Piastri in fourth.
Promisingly for Lawson, teammate Arvid Lindblad qualified inside the top 10 and will start ninth. His best lap was 0.772s back from Russell after Racing Bulls unveiled a major upgrade package for Canada.
The Canada sprint race begins at 4am on Sunday and grand prix qualifying is at 8am.
Canada sprint race starting grid
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes
- Lando Norris – McLaren
- Oscar Piastri – McLaren
- Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari
- Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
- Isack Hadjar – Red Bull
- Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls
- Carlos Sainz – Williams
- Nico Hulkenberg – Audi
- Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi
- Franco Colapinto – Alpine
- Esteban Ocon – Haas
- Ollie Bearman – Haas
- Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
- Sergio Perez – Cadillac
- Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
- Pierre Gasly – Alpine
- Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac
- Alex Albon – Williams
- Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.