After making it through his Q1 group with the third-fastest time, Mugen driver Lawson was only ninth of the 12 cars in the Q2 pole shootout, with a laptime almost a second slower than pacesetter Toshiki Oyu.
Lawson will start Sunday's third round of the season eighth on the grid after TOM'S driver Ritomo Miyata lost his best lap for a track limits violation.
Looking back on his session, Lawson said a combination of a set-up adjustment after Q1 that didn't work out and his own mistakes prevented him from starting any higher up the grid.
"It’s very disappointing… it’s frustrating, honestly," the 21-year-old told Motorsport.com. "I definitely expected more after Q1.
"The car felt good, but the lap was a bit safe. I thought I had more to give in Q2 but I made a mistake. I think we missed the window a bit with car balance as well, and unfortunately the mistake cost us quite badly, so this one is on me."
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Asked to quantify how much time was lost with his mistake, Lawson replied: "A couple of tenths. I don’t think we had the speed to fight for pole.
"We tried some adjustments with the car and they didn’t quite work how we wanted it to. Looking back we would have done things differently, but considering the mistake I made on top of that, it really set us back."
Lawson will start five places behind his team-mate and championship rival Tomoki Nojiri, who suffered a scare in Q1 as he was almost knocked out before Kamui Kobayashi had his best lap deleted for cutting the chicane.
On Nojiri's situation, Lawson commented: "It was fortunate for him that someone else [Kobayashi] got done for track limits, but they made it work, they improved the car and ultimately put him at the front.
'We went the other way, and when it’s so close it’s the little details that make the difference."
Lawson played down his chances of challenging Nojiri in Sunday's race, suggesting he would be content with a top-five finish.
"I want to make as much progress as I can, but it depends on the strategy and things like that," said the Kiwi. "There’s definitely an opportunity to move forward, but it’s going to be tough. It’s hard to overtake here so I’m not sure how far forward we can move.
"[Finishing fifth] would be great. I would probably take that [if offered now]."
Nojiri for his part had no explanation for his lack of speed in Q1, but said that adjustments made to his Mugen machine for the Q2 pole shootout were enough to put him back in contention for the top spot.
"I was really lucky to make it through to Q2," admitted Nojiri. "But while complaining about the car I was able to ask my engineer for some adjustments and we just about made them in time [before Q2].
"We couldn't make any detailed changes, it was more like, 'let's just add some more downforce' and we just made some fairly simple adjustments and they worked. Somehow, we were able to make the car just about as easy to drive as possible in Q2.
"I'm still a bit worried about the long-run pace, so I want to try and improve the car further for tomorrow and aim for the win."
