Lawson: I have never seen such close competition.

      In Spielberg, Liam Lawson reached the final qualifying session for the second time this season, where he set the sixth fastest time. His teammate, Isack Hadjar, ended his fight in the second session with the thirteenth result. Both Racing Bulls drivers are hoping to score points on Sunday.

      Liam Lawson (6th): “I’m really happy to have made it to the final. It’s a great result and I’m glad everything came together.

      I’ve never seen such a close qualifying battle before, so it’s great that we did everything right. I’ve had the pace over the past few rounds, and today we finally managed to put all the pieces together. The team did a fantastic job, especially on my side of the garage – everyone gave their all.

      Everything will be decided on Sunday. It’s going to be a tough race given how close the results are, but we’ll try our best to keep the rivals behind us. The strategy question is still open, so we have to work on the plan this evening. I’m focused on getting off the line cleanly and making the right decisions behind the wheel.”

      Isack Hadjar (13th): “A disappointing Saturday. On Friday we were behind, but overnight we managed to turn things around thanks to the right setup changes. Our decisions worked in the first session, and I started to think that reaching the final was possible.

      It’s a shame that during my attempt in the second session the car suffered from understeer in the fast corners and the tyres weren’t ready for the first turn. It’s frustrating because if I’d repeated the lap from the first session, I would’ve made the final. I don’t know what happened or why we were behind, as we managed the traffic well and are usually very consistent warming up the tyres. This evening we’ll study everything with the team.

      As for the race, we’re not starting that far back, and I still have a new set of tyres left. I think with a good strategy we can aim for points.”