Liam Lawson to start 17th in Qatar Grand Prix after qualifying setback and criticism of Lance Stroll

Liam Lawson will start 17th in the Qatar Grand Prix after being eliminated in the first qualifying session. His best time was 1.170 seconds slower than teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who qualified 14th. Lawson criticized Lance Stroll for allegedly slowing down on track. Max Verstappen secured pole position, marking his first since July. George Russell will start second, while McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start third and fourth, respectively. Sergio Perez qualified ninth, trailing Verstappen by 252 points in the standings. Lawson previously finished 10th in the sprint race but dropped to 16th on the first lap. He managed to outqualify Williams' Franco Colapinto, who will start 19th. The Qatar Grand Prix begins at 5 a.m. on Monday.