Lawson to start main race in 15th after sprint penalty

Liam Lawson claimed his first points of the season with a seventh place finish in the sprint in...
Liam Lawson claimed his first points of the season with a seventh place finish in the sprint in Miami. Photo: Getty Images
New Zealand Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson will start the main race in 15th position after a frustrating day in Miami. 

Lawson was eliminated in the second round of qualifying for the main event this morning after his vehicle suffered battery problems. 

Earlier, he copped a five-second penalty in the sprint race, dropping him out of the points.

Lawson had qualified 14th for that race and looked to have finished in seventh before the penalty was declared for an incident with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Alonso was pitched into the wall after contact with Lawson's Racing Bulls car, triggering the safety car to the finish.

Officials ruled that while Lawson was the leading car at turn 12, where the incident took place, he was behind at turn 11, and therefore was required to give Alonso room.

The penalty means Lawson's final position is 13th, out of the points. 

"He came out on cold tyres, and I’d done a lap," Lawson said after the race. "I was trying to get by him early in the lap.

"I waited for DRS, made sure to get my wheels ahead at the apex trying to overtake. I feel I did that, then I got squeezed off.

"At that point I was heading for the concrete wall. I was trying to get out, but he left me no space.

"Obviously [it’s] not my intention, but I feel like I had my wheels ahead."

Britain's Lando Norris won the crash-strewn and wet-to-dry race, ahead of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, which trimmed Piastri's Formula 1 lead to nine points.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton finished third.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was handed a 10 second penalty for an unsafe release that led to a pitlane collision with Mercedes' pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli, as the Italian was coming in and the champion pulling out.

That dropped four-times champion Verstappen to the last of those who took the chequered flag.

Qualifying for Monday's main race got underway at 8am.