On a truncated day of practice for Formula One’s Mexican Grand Prix, Liam Lawson was 0.264s away from a top-10 finish at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
As part of Formula One’s regulations that dictate teams must give four practice sessions per year to a junior driver, Lawson was only able to take part in free practice two (FP2) and clocked the 11th-fastest time.
Lawson’s best lap of 1m 18.218s was 0.826s off the pace set by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who had the fastest time of the day, 1m 17.392s.
“I knew it was going to feel weird getting in, I was obviously going to get up to speed,” Lawson said. “But I felt lost at the start. I was just driving around aimlessly for a little bit.
“It’s very tricky here, we know that. [It’s] slippery, high altitude, low grip. It was tricky but the car’s in a decent place.
“I don’t fully feel like I’m there yet. But we have another practice session tomorrow to put it all together.”
Lawson was 0.063s quicker than Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar in 14th. However, he was 0.335s back from Red Bull rival Yuki Tsunoda in seventh, with both drivers understood to be vying for the same seat in 2026.
Red Bull senior adviser Dr Helmut Marko has confirmed this weekend’s race will be the last chance drivers have to stake their claims for a 2026 seat.
Lawson, Tsunoda and Hadjar are, at present, all without a contract for 2026 and it is understood only two seats are available between both Red Bull-backed teams.
After sitting out of FP1, Lawson started slowly as he adjusted to the circuit in his opening stints. However, the Kiwi’s lap times improved throughout the second session.
Lawson got through 32 laps without any major issues, but was not given the chance to run a set of hard tyres after seeing Racing Bulls reserve Ayumu Iwasa complete the long run during his stint in FP1.
Instead, Lawson made use of the medium compound for most of the session, before switching to softs to finish in his qualifying simulation.
While Lawson’s fastest time on the mediums was 1m 19.066s, he bettered that with his first flying lap on softs, putting in 1m 18.218s to move within touching distance of the top 10.
With less than 10 minutes left in the session, Lawson was the only car still in his team’s garage. He returned for one last stint on soft tyres but was unable to better his fastest time.
Meanwhile, despite finishing inside the top 10, Tsunoda complained of suffering damage to his car’s floor after taking too much kerb at turn 12.
Lawson will get one last practice session on Sunday morning before qualifying for the Grand Prix.
Earlier, as Lawson sat out of FP1, Red Bull junior driver Arvid Lindblad caught the eye in an impressive session where he clocked the sixth-fastest time.
The 18-year-old is widely understood to be in line for promotion to Racing Bulls in 2026, provided Hadjar is promoted to partner Verstappen at Red Bull.
In 26 laps driving the difficult RB21, Lindblad was 0.617s off the pace set by session leader Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, whose lap of 1m 18.380s was the fastest of the morning.
Lindblad’s time was 0.093s better than Tsunoda, who finished eighth, 0.710s back from Leclerc. As Lawson sat out, Hadjar’s best effort put him 11th, 1.029s off the pace.
In Lawson’s car, Iwasa was 17th, 1.773s behind the frontrunner and 0.744s adrift of Hadjar’s time.
Qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix begins at 10am on Sunday NZT.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.