Liam Lawson made an impressive start to Formula One’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and managed two top 10 finishes in Friday practice.
On a challenging Baku City Circuit, Lawson was able to set the ninth-fastest time in the opening practice session (FP1) and went even better for seventh in the second (FP2).
With those placings Lawson bettered Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar, who was 10th in FP1 and 13th in FP2.
What’s more, as the track continued to improve, Lawson was able to shave 1.914s off his time from FP1 with his best effort in FP2.
While this year is Lawson’s first driving the Baku City Circuit in a Formula One car, the Racing Bulls driver scored a podium finish on his last visit to Azerbaijan, back in the 2022 Formula Two season.
Promisingly, in the truncated FP1 session Lawson also topped the leaderboard for sector three, the fastest part of the track, just 0.007s quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
“Today was good,” said Lawson. “I haven’t driven here for a few years.
“It’s very different to what I remember here from Formula Two. But I think they did a good job at cleaning the track.
“It’s started quite grippy, we’re doing qualifying times, nearly. Maybe even faster, which helps a lot.
“Monza was difficult for us, but not a true representation of pace. We just had a tough weekend, but had everything gone well, we should have been in the top 10.
“We’re pushing for that, and the car’s been very consistent recently. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be [in the top 10], we just have to keep chasing it with everyone else.
“We’ll see what we get tomorrow.”
On a weekend where McLaren can seal the constructors championship, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had issues on the first day of the race weekend.
World championship leader Piastri was forced to sit out of most of FP1 with an engine issue, and lost vital time on track, while Norris went wide at turn four in FP2 and hit the wall to be left with damaged suspension.
Norris was still able to top the timesheet in FP1, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton did the same in the second and set the fastest time of the day, 1m 41.293s.
Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate Leclerc was 0.074s back, as he hunts a sixth consecutive pole position when qualifying begins on Sunday morning (local time).
Lawson started the second session with a scare, when he went too deep at turn 15 and was forced to use the escape road, triggering a yellow flag for his troubles.
Once he’d recovered from that, though, Lawson’s best mark of 1m 41.989s was 0.696s off Hamilton’s time.
Lawson’s mark made him the second-best of Red Bull’s four cars, sitting just 0.087s off world champion Max Verstappen in sixth. His time, though, was still 0.454s faster than Hadjar and 0.455s quicker than Yuki Tsunoda, who were 13th and 14th.
Norris and Piastri could only manage 10th and 12th, 0.906s and 1.002s off Hamilton’s time respectively.
Earlier, in FP1, a problem with the curb coming unstuck at turn 16 led to a lengthy delay that wiped out nearly half of the session.
That left all 20 drivers only able to set times on soft tyres, as Lawson was able to record the ninth-best effort of the opening session, getting around the circuit in 1m 43.903s.
The Kiwi’s effort was 1.199s off the pace set by Norris, who crossed the line in 1m 42.704s, as Lawson still managed 17 laps.
That time, though, was still 0.072s quicker than Hadjar in 10th, as the Frenchman struggled with the tight nature of the Baku circuit, including braking too late at turn five and being forced to use the escape road.
The rookies weren’t the only drivers to have issues either, as seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton suffered a punctured tyre after damaging his own front wing, on his way to setting the 13th-best time.
After having his own session cut by engine issues as well as the red flag, Piastri was able to post the second-fastest time of FP1, albeit 0.310s off Norris.
As he fights for his own future in the sport, Tsunoda was able to better teammate Verstappen by 0.052s, as the Red Bulls finished in sixth and seventh respectively.
Qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix begins at midnight on Sunday (NZ time).
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.