Did a DRS problem cause Lawson's elimination in Q1?

Barely out of his car, Liam Lawson was certain of it. Something had gone wrong on his final flying lap in Q1, costing him time in his hopes of progressing to Q2.

Frustrating since the New Zealander missed the passage for 0 at first, then for 167 after the time of Nico Hulkenberg was finally erased... but once Q2 had started. But above all, he took more than half a second from his teammate Isack Hadkar. The Kiwi was then quickly reassured by his team who confirmed a technical problem with his car, coming from the DRS.

« Everything was going well until then., Liam Lawson emphasized. I don't really know what happened, but I know I had some wheelspin coming out of turn [10] and when I tried to open the DRS, it immediately closed. It's frustrating of course, it sucks... »

But apparently, this phenomenon was caused by… Liam Lawson himself. In fact, his reaction to the wheels spinning disrupted the car's entire system. "[He put] a little boost of the accelerator to keep control of the car, explains Tim Goss, chief technical officer. This caused the DRS to automatically close, causing him to lose significant speed on the straight and costing him his place in Q2. »

The New Zealander will therefore be 17th on the grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix this Sunday.

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