Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson will have to rely on today's sprint event to familiarise himself with the Canadian Grand Prix Course after mechanical issues took him out of yesterday's free practice.
Lawson's Racing Bulls vehicle completed only five laps on the course during a practice session before a hydraulic leak forced him to stop.
The team were unable to fix the issue in adequate time for Lawson to attend both the remaining free practice and sprint qualifying.
The driver said the incident was frustrating, "It definitely makes it really tough on a weekend like this".
Lawson said knowledge of the 4.4km Canadian course — Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve — was something he would have benefited from "this track is quite hard, a bit unique".
Despite everything, the Kiwi was optimistic heading into the 23-lap sprint, saying there were "plenty of positives at least that we have good speed".
"We just need to, hopefully, have a good day tomorrow. Try and learn what we can in the sprint and then put it all into qualifying.
Lawson said he would be "playing catch-up" on Saturday but the sprint was driven differently from qualifying – a challenge he anticipated being larger.
"I think qualifying will be the biggest step that I have to make and I'll be doing what I can to prepare for that," he said.
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