Motorsport: Liam Lawson qualifies 20th for Formula One debut, will start at back of grid for Dutch Grand Prix

New Zealand's Liam Lawson will start at the back of the grid in his Formula One debut after qualifying 20th for the Dutch Grand Prix, which starts on Monday morning (NZ time).

Lawson will step into the AlphaTauri seat after Daniel Ricciardo suffered a broken bone in his hand during the weekend's opening practice session at Zandvoort.

But with just a solitary practice session in the AlphaTauri car under his belt, Lawson qualified as the slowest of the 20 drivers for his first taste of Formula One.

In wet conditions, Lawson put in a best lap time of 1m 23.420s - more than a second behind Valtteri Bottas (1m 22.260s) of Alfa Romeo who qualified in 19th.

However, dealing with a truncated preparation, Lawson was at a natural disadvantage being his first race with two less practice sessions than the other 19 drivers on the grid.

Lawson's AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda qualified 14th with a best lap time of 1m 20.230s.

World champion and current championship leader Max Verstappen took pole position, putting in a best lap time of 1m 10.567s.

Despite starting at the back of the grid, however, the Kiwi is looking forward to making his much anticipated Formula One debut. 

"I'm excited," he said. "At the same time, I know it's going to be challenging and I know we have a lot to get through. So I think we're just after a clean race.

"This morning was really tough, but yeah the first run we weren't too far off and I was still improving and then just the second set it rained again, I expected it to get a little bit slower and it didn't. 

"If it's dry [I will be] kind of re-learning everything again because I haven't driven in the dry. 

"So it's going to be a very tough race."

The 21-year-old will become the first New Zealander to race in motorsport's pinnacle since Brendon Hartley, who also raced for AlphaTauri - then Toro Rosso.

Depending on what decisions Red Bull make, Lawson could also back up for AlphaTauri at next weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza, with Ricciardo unlikely to recover in time.