New Zealand's Liam Lawson continues to impress in his first steps in Formula One, qualifying in 10th position for Monday's (NZ time) Singapore Grand Prix.
After starting 20th in his Formula One debut at Zandvoort and 12th a week later at Monza, 21-year-old Lawson reached the third qualifying session for the first time in his career on Sunday (NZ time) at Singapore's Marina Bay Circuit.
The Pukekohe native put in a best time of 1m 32.268s and qualified faster than current world champion Max Verstappen, who did not advance from stage two to start in 11th.
While Verstappen's overall best time, 1m 32.173s, was faster than Lawson's Q3 effort, the Kiwi's 1m 32.166s in Q2 was enough to see him pip the world champion into the final session.
Lawson is the best placed of the four Red Bull cars – also counting sister outfit AlphaTauri – after Sergio Perez also failed to reach Q3, and will start 13th.
In another impressive notch on Lawson's belt, AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda could only qualify in 15th position, after not posting a time in Q2.
The Kiwi has also qualified ahead of both Pierre Gasly of Alpine and Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo, both former race winners.
Lawson is yet to score a point for AlphaTauri this season, but came close with an impressive 11th placing at the Italian Grand Prix.
So far this year, AlphaTauri have only scored three points, all of which belong to Tsunoda.
Singapore could be Lawson's final taste of Formula One in 2023, with the rookie deputising for Daniel Ricciardo, who broke a bone in his hand before the Dutch Grand Prix last month.
Red Bull have confirmed Lawson will remain with AlphaTauri until Ricciardo is fit, with a recovery timeline between six and eight weeks after the injury.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz took pole position, putting in a best lap of 1m 30.984s, while Mercedes' George Russell was second, finishing just 0.072s behind.
