Steward’s grant Lawson and Albon permission to race in Canadian Sprint
23rd May 2026The FIA stewards have given Racing Bulls Liam Lawson and Williams’ Alexander Albon permission to take part in the upcoming sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Feature image credit: Pirelli
During sprint qualifying, on Friday, both Lawson and Albon failed to make it out of their respective garages after the two faced long repairs after FP1, on Friday afternoon.
The New Zealander stopped out on track due to a loss of ‘power steering’ as he claimed on the team radio, and later required a power unit change, which stopped him from getting out on track. On the other hand, Albon hit a groundhog during FP1 and sustained heavy damage, ruling him out of qualifying, too.
As neither Racing Bulls nor Williams car made it out on track during SQ1, it meant neither driver was able to set a lap time, and more importantly, were not able to meet the 107% requirement.
Following Friday’s qualifying session, the stewards had received requests from both Williams and Racing Bulls to allow Albon and Lawson to race in the upcoming sprint.
As such, the stewards had confirmed that both drivers were allowed to race in the sprint and would be placed on the grid in accordance with the F1 regulations. In their identical reports, they said:
“In accordance with Article B2.2.3b of the FIA F1 Regulations, the Stewards grant permission for [Car
23 & 30, Alexander Albon and Liam Lawson], to start the Sprint, as the driver has set satisfactory times in practice at this Competition.
“The car will be placed on the grid in accordance with Article B2.3.4 of the FIA F1 Regulations.”
As a result of the Steward’s decision to allow the two drivers to compete, it means Albon will start the upcoming sprint in P21, whilst Lawson will take up the final spot on the grid, in P22.
The Canadian Grand Prix sprint race will get underway on Saturday afternoon, with the race set to get underway at 12pm. Mercedes’ George Russell will start from pole position ahead of teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Hamilton credits revised preparation after strongest qualifying display of season
- Russell hails Mercedes upgrade push after Canadian Sprint pole
- Racing Bulls fined €10,000 for technical breach
- Antonelli leads Mercedes one-two in incident-filled FP1 at Montreal
- Liam Lawson referred to stewards for technical breach at Canadian Grand Prix
- “Absolute Bull***t” says Komatsu on Ocon rumours
- Lawson hopeful Racing Bulls upgrade can boost Canadian GP challenge
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
