"Mate I'm really sorry": Liam Lawson's heartbreaking team radio after SQ1 elimination in the F1 Chinese GP sprint qualifying

Liam Lawson was eliminated in the first Sprint Qualifying session for the Sprint race in China. The Kiwi qualified last for the Sprint race after botching his final run during SQ1 and apologized to the team for his disappointing qualifying session.

Lawson was brought in as a replacement for Sergio Perez at Red Bull. The Mexican driver had a substantial performance deficit to Max Verstappen in the same car, and the Dutchman outscored Perez in the championship standings by a mile, as the latter finished eighth in the standings.

The New Zealander was given the call-up to the senior team to reduce this performance delta. However, this has not been the case till now. At the Australian Grand Prix, Liam Lawson crashed out of the race, while Verstappen finished P2.

Moreover, this trend has continued into the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, as the reigning champion charges for the top spots in the sprint qualifying session but Lawson qualified plum-last. The 23-year-old made a mistake on his final run, which prompted him to abort the attempt and apologize to the Red Bull pit wall, as he said over the radio:

"Mate I'm really sorry but I just... I honestly could not get the tires down."

Liam Lawson had finished the sole practice session 18th fastest, setting him in line for his subpar sprint qualifying run.

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A bad start to an important weekend for Liam Lawson

Liam Lawson at the F1 Grand Prix Of Australia - Source: Getty

The Red Bull driver was unhappy with his run during SQ1. Moreover, his performance has led some paddock chatter to spark up regarding his future at the Austrian giant.

Liam Lawson does not need such speculations at the start of his F1 dream at Red Bull. The RB21 has not been kind to him, and he admitted some problems trouble him at his new home in F1, he said after the Australian Grand Prix (via Formula 1):

"Yeah, we were really struggling to be honest. I had a lot of tyre issues with the front early on in the race, so it’s just been a tough weekend.”

On the other hand, the Shanghai International Circuit's parabolic corner layouts and long straights have catapulted Ferrari into the fight for the top spots. The prancing horses had a difficult weekend at the season opener in Australia.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished the race in eighth and tenth respectively, bringing a mere three points for the team. It was the worst first race for the Maranello-based squad since 2009 when the team scored zero points at the season opener.

Meanwhile, McLaren will be hoping for the papaya duo to bring another victory home assert themselves as the favorites for the championship, and assert themselves as the front-runner early on.