Formula 1: Liam Lawson quickest Red Bull car in Monaco practice, logs fifth-fastest time

It was only practice, but Liam Lawson can take plenty of confidence from his displays on the first day of Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix weekend.

On a track that’s the most difficult to overtake on, which makes qualifying the most important session of the weekend, Lawson logged the fifth-fastest time of the second free practice session (FP2) and crossed the line in 1m 11.823s.

That mark put Lawson less than half a second back from session leader Charles Leclerc, finishing 0.468s back from the Ferrari.

What’s more, Lawson wasn’t just the quickest of the two Racing Bulls, he was the fastest of the four Red Bull-affiliated cars, bettering Max Verstappen in 10th by 0.245s and Yuki Tsunoda 11th by 0.249s in FP2.

“It’s a positive day, for sure,” said Lawson. “It’s one of those tracks, compared to most tracks, where you’re just building up the whole weekend.

“We made a step up from this morning, but naturally tomorrow everyone’s going to keep building again. We have to keep chasing that.

“We made a lot of changes today, we’ll chase it again tomorrow and then see. But it’s a positive day.

“It’s better in an F1 car, I‘ve [raced here] in F2. Although it’s much faster in F1, it’s just much more compliant.

“It’s a nicer car, and it’s really, really fun. It’s very special to do this here.

“But tomorrow is the important day. We’ll focus on making another step for P3, and put ourselves in a good place for quali.”

Most importantly, though, Lawson outperformed Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar, who hit the wall no fewer than three times across the two sessions on the tight confines of the Monte Carlo streets.

The Kiwi got through 67 laps on the Circuit de Monaco, including stints on all three tyre compounds, including long runs on mediums to replicate his likely race strategy.

Leclerc topped both sessions on his home track and logged the fastest time of the day, 1m 11.355s, as he looks to win Monaco for the second year in succession.

World championship leader Oscar Piastri had the second fastest time of the day with 1m 11.393s, enough for second place in FP2, while Lewis Hamilton was third, 0.105s back from his teammate.

The 20 drivers will get a third and final practice session on Saturday night (NZ time), before the vital qualifying in the early hours of Sunday morning.

However, as a means of negating the advantage qualifying brings, drivers in this year’s Grand Prix will be forced to make at least two pit stops, as opposed to the traditional one.

While Lawson has, for the most part, trailed Hadjar since his return to Racing Bulls, he can claim bragging rights over his teammate after the opening day.

The French rookie triggered a red flag just eight minutes into FP2 when his rear wheel clipped the wall coming out of the tunnel at turn 10, and he missed a chunk of the session as mechanics repaired his car. Hadjar had also clipped the wall in FP1 but that did not result in any serious damage.

Hadjar wasn’t alone in finding the wall, as Piastri put his McLaren into the barrier at turn one and caused the day’s third red flag 20 minutes into FP2.

Once the session resumed, Lawson put in his best effort of the day and clocked a lap of 1m 11.823s to move as high as third.

Looking to respond to his teammate, Hadjar clocked a 1m 11.842s lap of his own to move within 0.019s of Lawson – only to clip the wall again, this time at turn one, and faced another limp back into the pits.

Earlier, Lawson clocked the 17th fastest time in FP1, admittedly as neither Racing Bulls car made use of the soft tyres during the opening session.

The Kiwi logged a best lap of 1m 13.429s in practice one, and was 1.465s off Leclerc’s 1m 11.964s.

Verstappen was second, 0.163s off Leclerc, while Piastri was fifth, 0.378s back from the Ferrari.

Hadjar, meanwhile, was 13th with a best lap of 1m 13.187s, 0.242s faster than Lawson. Like his teammate, though, Hadjar also completed the first session without using the soft tyres.

The dangers of Monaco were on show from the opening session, when Leclerc’s Ferrari went into the back of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, who himself had moved over to allow a faster car through, and caused a red flag just 10 minutes into the weekend.

That prematurely ended Stroll’s first session and earned him a one-place grid penalty for the Grand Prix. After a five-minute delay, the session resumed, as Lawson struggled to produce a time to challenge the top 10.

Like Leclerc and Stroll, Lawson avoided a potential collision with Hamilton when the seven-time world champion braked at turn 18.

With 30 minutes remaining in the opening session, Lawson complained to his race engineer Ernesto Desiderio that he could smell an issue with his brakes, but returned to the track six minutes later and got through the rest of the session without any incident.

All up, Lawson got through 36 laps in FP1 and was able to produce an 18-lap run on the medium compound, as a means of replicating the likely Racing Bulls strategy for Monday morning’s Grand Prix.

Qualifying begins at 2am (NZ time) on Sunday.

Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.