That is a wild way to handle a qualifying session. Formula 1 strategy can get weird when grid penalties are involved, but Saturday’s United States Grand Prix qualifying in Austin brought us a genuinely unusual twist. Liam Lawson was kept inside the garage for the entirety of Q3, handing his Racing Bulls team mate Arvid Lindblad a clear path to the higher grid position.
Here is how the numbers played out. Lindblad came into the weekend facing a five-place drop after taking a new ICE. Both VCARB 03 machines had enough pace to head the midfield pack, dragging themselves cleanly into the top 10. Since the cars ahead of them belonged exclusively to the four top teams, and with no Audis or Alpines in the mix, Lawson and Lindblad were locked in to finish the final session in ninth and tenth.
I've been slower than Liam in every session so far—I think eight or nine-tenths slower than him in the first run of Q1. So to be ahead at the end of Q2 when it mattered, I'm obviously very happy with.
To ensure Lindblad secured the higher spot—which converts to P14 on the final grid once his penalty hits—the team made the call to bench Lawson entirely. That meant classifying Lawson P10 with no time set, though he actually starts one place ahead of his team mate when the penalties shake out. Naturally, it went completely against a driver's instinct.
"I would have loved to have a go at Q3," Lawson said. He noted they had two sets of tyres ready, which is not normal for them. "I asked to go out, to be honest. I said I want to go and do it, and they said no. So yeah, it's frustrating a little bit for a driver, especially because we've had a very strong weekend so far." Still, he acknowledged the logic: with ninth and tenth guaranteed, saving the tyres for Sunday made sense, and he starts immediately ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in the battle for fifth in the Constructors' Championship.
Lindblad wasn't completely untouched by strategy either, managing only a single run in Q3 despite having the tyres for a second. "I think it makes sense what we did," Lindblad said. He admitted he was happy with Q2, especially after struggling earlier in the weekend. "I've been slower than Liam in every session so far—I think eight or nine-tenths slower than him in the first run of Q1. So to be ahead at the end of Q2 when it mattered, I'm obviously very happy with."
Now, both drivers turn their focus to Sunday. Lawson points to a good long-run pace, while Lindblad believes overtaking is possible on this track as he tries to fight his way back through the field from his penalized starting spot.
