AlphaTauri F1 rookie Liam Lawson feels he had the potential to reach Saturday's top-ten shootout in qualifying at Monza after his remarkable effort in the session.
Lawson, who made his F1 debut last weekend at Zandvoort, will start his Italian Grand Prix from P12, just one spot behind his AlpahTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
The Kiwi has so far enjoyed the benefit of running in the dry compared to last weekend's daunting conditions which has allowed him to properly build his confidence and focus on his progress rather than on merely keeping it on the road.
And the 21-year-old clearly made some good headway from Friday's opening session at the Temple of Speed, where he was half a second behind Tsunoda, to Saturday's qualifying where he ended up just 0.164s behind his teammate in Q2.
"Overall, we’ve been progressing over the sessions, building up my confidence," he said after qualifying.
"You can feel the limit, but it’s also about knowing the step up in grip between the different compounds, if you make changes what it’s going to do to the car, and that just takes some time."
©AlphaTauri
Lawson felt that Q3 was within reach for AlphaTauri, with circumstances perhaps depriving him of a spot in the final top-ten.
"With both cars being so close to Q3, we definitely had the potential to make it, but unfortunately, Alonso went off the track right in front of me, so there was some gravel on my line," he explained.
"However, it would’ve been tight regardless. I’m happy to have made some improvements and I’m sure there’s more to come.
"It’s a good position to be starting in, and with both cars so close to each other, I’m positive about points for the team tomorrow."
It's unclear how long Lawson's apprenticeship with AlphaTauri will last, or rather when Daniel Ricciardo will be fit enough to recoup his seat.
©AlphaTauri
But the Kiwi says his next order of business is to extract the most from his car, or "that last little bit" as he calls it as he explores the AT04's limits, an exercise that will inevitably require more time.
"It’s just time, a little bit more time adjusting and getting used to it," he said.
"Formula 1 takes so much commitment with these cars, but we’re definitely getting there, just a little bit more.
"Of course, you always look back and you always go ‘Yeah, there are little bits I could have done better’. For sure, I will learn from it.
"You can feel it but it’s little things, like knowing how much the step up and the grip is going to be from compound to compound, and what it’s going to do to the car," he added.
"Things like that that you have to feel first before you can know where to discover the extra grip so that just takes me a little bit of time."
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