F1: Liam Lawson scores season-best qualifying result in Austria

Kiwi Formula One driver Liam Lawson has secured his best qualifying result of the season, locking in P6 for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.

The Racing Bulls driver impressed with a 1.04.926s lap in Q3, placing him ahead of both reigning world champion Max Verstappen and teammate Isack Hadjar, who could only manage P13.

“It feels like it’s been a long time [coming],” said Lawson after the session.

“It’s really cool to have a good quali.

"Everything's felt really good, I've felt really good, and we've done a lot of work on the car and on my side as well, just to make it more comfortable for me.

"It's nice to show it today, but obviously tomorrow is obviously the important day."

The result comes as a crucial time for the Racing Bulls driver, who has only managed one points finish this season so far, amidst swirling speculation about his unconfirmed race seat for 2026.

Despite showing consistent promising pace in practice sessions, Lawson has struggled to deliver when it counts in qualifying, only managing 19th in Canada and 13th in Spain.

A successful qualifying result will be a confidence boost for the Kiwi, who has been steadily rebuilding his form after being dropped by Red Bull's senior team earlier this season.

"The last couple of weekends the pace has been there through practice, just in quali it wasn't ... so it's cool to get it across the line," Lawson said.

Max Verstappen was denied a sixth-straight pole position at the Red Bull Ring, after a late yellow-flag in Q3 from Alpine's Pierre Gasly disrupted the final moments of the qualifying session.

McLaren's Lando Norris capitalised, setting a blistering time of 1:03971s to take pole position- more than half a second ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc who will join him on the front row.

Formula One’s Austrian Grand Prix begins at 1am on Monday (NZ time).