Liam Lawson Spanish GP Qualifying: Position and Results
Some drivers arrive at a Grand Prix weekend with a clear plan, and others need one strong session. Liam Lawson’s Madring weekend fits the second group: he qualified eighth, 0.492 seconds off pole, as BBC Sport (UK broadcaster) reports, although search results disagree on several details.
Pole time: 1:31.824, Lando Norris · Lawson qualifying: 8th, 1:32.316 · Gap to pole: +0.492s · Race finish: 6th
Quick snapshot
- Norris took pole at 1:31.824, 0.011s ahead of Kimi Antonelli (BBC Sport, UK broadcaster)
- Lawson is listed eighth on the official starting grid (Formula1.com, official F1 site)
- Lawson’s best time was 1:32.316 (Crash.net, motorsport results service)
- Lawson’s Q1 laps are recorded as 1:33.316 and 1:33.310, figures that don’t sit comfortably together (The Athletic, sports newsroom)
- The race time gap is given as +86.746s, according to McLaren F1 (fan site), but another table lists it inconsistently
- Speedcafe, motorsport news, reports Lawson fifth in Q2 with a Q2 time of 1:32.780, while other sources imply a different placing; the official timing record was not supplied (The Athletic, sports newsroom)
- One search-result account places Lawson 13th after a Q2 knockout, with no named source behind it (The Athletic, sports newsroom)
- 2026-09-12: first Formula 1 qualifying session held at Madring (The Race, motorsport news)
- 2026-09-13: race date, according to Formula One History, statistics site
- Race gap figures stay open until an official classification is checked, and none was among the sources reviewed.
- Eighth stays the working grid slot unless the official grid changes (Formula1.com, official F1 site).
Most rows below rest on broadcaster or F1 records, but the race date comes from a statistics site and deserves a check before it is repeated.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Pole sitter | Lando Norris, 1:31.824 |
| Lawson grid position | 8th (grid P8) |
| Lawson best qualifying time | 1:32.316 |
| Lawson gap to pole | +0.492s (The Race, motorsport news) |
| Lawson race finish | 6th (Motorsport Week, race coverage) |
| Race date | 2026-09-13, according to Formula One History |
| Red Bull stint | Replacing Isack Hadjar for the Dutch, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix (Sky Sports, broadcaster) |
What were the results of the Grand Prix qualifying today?
Lando Norris set pole, and Liam Lawson finished eighth in the session. The official grid confirms that slot, and Lawson’s best time of 1:32.316 came in Q3, the final session he reached.
Lawson’s Q3 time is the figure that decides his place, so it carries more weight than any single lap from Q1 or Q2.
Strong, but short of the front.
The Athletic, sports newsroom, summarising a commentator who said Lawson looked much more comfortable in the Red Bull than he had at Monza
Liam Lawson’s qualifying position
- Grid slot: eighth, as listed in the official starting grid (Formula1.com, official F1 site)
- Best time: 1:32.316 in Q3 (Crash.net, motorsport results service)
The 13th-place account
- One account in the search results behind this piece places Lawson 13th after a Q2 knockout, with no named source.
- None of the verified timing records supports that version, since they place him through to Q3.
Lawson’s deficit looks wide until you notice that the top two were split by 0.011 seconds. Eighth place is a fight for places half a second off the front, not a collapse, and that distinction changes how the result should be read.
The implication: eighth is the working figure until an official timing record says otherwise, and the 13th-place version should not be repeated without a named source behind it.
Who won pole position in F1 today?
Lando Norris took pole at Madring, and Kimi Antonelli finished second, 0.011 seconds back, as BBC Sport records it. Max Verstappen was third, 0.140 seconds behind Norris, according to NewstalkZB (NZ Herald), which left Lawson 0.352 seconds further back.
The front of the grid was settled in thousandths, and Lawson’s 0.492-second gap is the margin that separates him from pole in the table above.
The top three were separated by 0.140 seconds, so one imperfect Q3 lap can cost a driver several grid places. Lawson’s eighth-place start came from a session where the margins were that small.
The implication: the pole fight was tight, which means Lawson’s gap is a real deficit for a driver fighting for points, but not a sign that his session fell apart.
What is the order of qualifying in F1?
Qualifying runs in three sessions, Q1, Q2 and Q3, and each one narrows the field. Lawson’s timing record shows him moving through all three, with a Q2 time of 1:32.780 and a final Q3 lap of 1:32.316.
Q3 decides the top ten, and The Race’s classification places Franco Colapinto ninth and Arvid Lindblad tenth, the two drivers who join Lawson in that group.
Lawson’s session by session
- Q2: 1:32.780, reported as fifth in the session (Speedcafe, motorsport news)
- Q3: 1:32.316, eighth on the grid (Crash.net, motorsport results service)
Lawson’s Q3 lap was 0.464 seconds quicker than his Q2 time, so the final run, not the middle one, did the work for him. A strong Q2 earns nothing on the grid if the last lap doesn’t follow through.
What this means: a top-ten place is earned on the last lap of Q3, and a single error there costs more than the earlier sessions can recover.
What is the starting grid for the F1 race?
The starting grid follows the qualifying classification, so Lawson’s eighth-place slot is the one that counts when the race starts. Verstappen starts ahead of him in third, and Colapinto sits directly behind in ninth.
How grid penalties change the start
- No grid penalty applies to Lawson, according to the official grid publication (Formula1.com, official F1 site)
- A penalty moves a driver back from the slot qualifying gave, so the official grid is the document to check, not the timing sheet.
The implication: the qualifying table and the grid agree on eighth, which makes that number the one to quote.
What is the latest news on Liam Lawson in the F1?
The most recent headline is Lawson’s sixth-place finish at the Spanish Grand Prix, which Motorsport Week, race coverage reports. The finish was his best result for Red Bull, and it came from eighth on the grid.
“F***, sorry man.”
Liam Lawson, heard telling race engineer Richard Wood after qualifying, as NewstalkZB (NZ Herald) reports
The radio message reflects disappointment at not starting higher, according to NewstalkZB, which frames the weekend around that reaction rather than the pole fight.
The implication: Lawson’s sixth-place finish, not his qualifying session, now defines his Red Bull stint so far, and the two-place gain from eighth is the figure to quote.
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sportnation.nz, grandprix.com, ground.news, formulaonehistory.com, racingnews365.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Liam Lawson score points at the Spanish Grand Prix?
Yes. He finished sixth, a top-ten result, according to Motorsport Week, race coverage.
Was Liam Lawson knocked out in Q2?
No verified timing record supports that. The records place him through to Q3, and the one account that says he was knocked out in Q2 names no source.
Which team was Liam Lawson driving for at Madring?
Red Bull. He was substituting for Isack Hadjar at the Dutch, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix, according to Sky Sports, broadcaster.
How many cars advance from Q1 to Q2?
Fifteen. Q1 eliminates the slowest five cars, and Q2 eliminates five more, leaving ten for Q3.
Where can official qualifying and grid information be checked?
The official grid article on Formula1.com is the document to check for the starting order. A grid penalty moves a driver back from that order, so the official grid, not the timing sheet, decides the start.
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