“We both went in different directions to find out and get a good idea with the car, and we definitely did that, which is positive.
“We’ll work on applying that for tomorrow. Obviously we’re pushing for [Q3].
“It’s hard to tell at this stage. It’s very close, everyone is still improving.
“We obviously made a big step on the other side of the garage, hopefully we can both apply that tomorrow, and take that step even further.”
But while Hadjar might have been running seventh in free practice two, the French rookie lost control of his car at turn three, and hit the wall to trigger the second red flag. To his credit, Hadjar did save his car from any major damage, despite the impact, but beached his car in the gravel attempting to rejoin the track.
That red flag, though, denied Lawson the chance to set a flying lap to end the second session.
While Lawson had logged an improvement of 1.31s from the first session to the second, a best lap of the day of 1m 16.255s was 0.962s back from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who clocked the fastest time of the day - 1m 15.293s - on his way to topping both sessions.
Before that, though, Hadjar’s best effort of 1m 15.792 was 0.463s faster than Lawson’s mark.
And yet, with eight of the 10 teams getting used to upgrades to their cars, Lawson’s time on track should prove vital for Sunday’s qualifying session.
Already with a stranglehold on the drivers and constructors championship, McLaren showed their dominance as Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris finished second in both sessions, while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was third in free practice two.
While based in Faenza, Imola’s Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari is effectively Racing Bulls’ home track, given its where the team complete their behind closed doors testing.
Earlier, free practice one saw teams for the most part operate on fact finding missions, given new upgrades, at the same time as running the new C6 soft compound tyre for the first time.
Those new tyres, it’s hoped, will bring a change to the dynamic of Monday’s Grand Prix, given Imola’s reputation as a track where qualifying holds too much importance due to its tight layouy.
For his part, Lawson initially got through 22 laps on the new softs, and sat 15th on the leaderboard with a best time of 1m 17.286s before the session was stopped by a red flag to Sauber’s Gabirel Bortoleto.
While that time saw the Kiwi 0.741s off the pace set by Piastri, Lawson’s effort was 0.355s better than teammate Hadjar in 19th, and 0.07s faster than Tsunoda in 16th, who took his place in a shock in-season switch.
Verstappen was the fastest of the four Red Bull cars, with his best time of 1m 16.905s only good enough for seventh. Aside from Piastri, Norris was 0.032s back, while Williams’ Carlos Sainz was 0.052s behind.
Given the nature of practice even before car upgrades, though, just how much can be read into Friday’s times won’t be known until qualifying at the earliest.
In fact, just 1.117s separated the first and last-placed cars in the first practice.
Imola is a circuit at which Racing Bulls - formerly AlphaTauri - have shone at in the past. In 2021, Gasly took a seventh-placed finish in the Grand Prix, while Tsunoda did the same a year later.
Lawson will be targeting an improved effort in qualifying, as one of just four drivers on this year’s grid yet to score a single point.
Qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix begins at 2am on Sunday morning (NZ time).
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.
