Disappointed Lawson points to Verstappen: 'He can clearly do it'

In the sprint race, Lawson was able to show that there is hope yet, as he managed to overtake several cars and come back from P19 to P14. A valiant yet fruitless effort, since it did not translate into points for himslef or the team. However, his progression did not carry forward into qualifying as the New Zealander only managed to place his RB21 in P20 on the grid for the Grand Prix.

Although positive, his overtakes during the 19 lap sprint in China give him little reason to be happy about his performance. "It's great that we're moving forward, but I'm in a Red Bull, so finishing 14th [in the Sprint race] is not really acceptable and obviously I'll try and move forward tomorrow but right now this [his qualifying performance] is more of a priority," Lawson said after qualifying.

Lawson focuses on Verstappen's performance

In the end Verstappen qualified in fourth place. When Lawson was asked about where the reason for his struggles lie, he pointed to the aggressive approach Red Bull's taken with the RB21, "It's a small window and it's hard to drive. it's hard to get in that window, and I'd love to save that with time. Obviously that'll come, I just don't really have time to do that, so it's just something I need to get on top of."

He then pointed to Verstappen. "It's the car's characteristics, the way the car drives. But, obviously if Max is able to drive it, then I should be able to get on top of it as well."

This article was written incollaboration with Marnik Kok.