Lawson immediately accomplished something in Japan with Racing Bulls that he couldn't do at Red Bull Racing

"It’s been a tricky day, especially after yesterday we had pretty good pace, and good balance. Somewhere along the way, I think with the wind change, we struggled more. It’s a shame because the potential of the car has been very very good this weekend, I felt really good in the car but for whatever reason it got away from us at the end of Q2," the driver said after the qualifying session.

"Tomorrow looks like it’s probably going to be wet, which is going to be a challenge for everybody, but also it opens opportunities for us to try and move forward. The new surface will be quite different to drive, it’ll probably hold a bit more water. Let’s see what happens, I’m sure it’ll be an eventful race," Lawson concluded.

The Kiwi driver will move up a spot in the starting grid because Carlos Sainz has been penalized for impeding Lewis Hamilton. The Spaniard was P12 but has been since demoted to P15, brining Lawson to P13.

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