Liam Lawson and Racing Bulls enjoyed a solid first day of Formula One’s Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, as he and teammate Isack Hadjar topped their senior Red Bull stablemates.
Across Friday’s two practice sessions, one of the
F1: Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls solid in Bahrain Grand Prix practice, Red Bull cars struggle
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Lawson finished eighth in session one and 12th in session two, while teammate Hadjar finished 12th and sixth respectively. The Kiwi was 0.270s quicker than his teammate in practice one but 0.468s slower in the second.
“FP2 was more tricky for us, weirdly,” Lawson said post-practice. “FP1, track conditions were an absolute disaster, I don’t think I’ve driven such a difficult session.
“FP2, the balance went away from us a little bit but in general, I think the car is in a pretty good place, it’s just [about] fine tuning.
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“Tomorrow we have a session in the day, which isn’t going to help us for quali. We’ll be looking into this session and taking what we can for quali tomorrow.
“I made a pretty big mistake in FP2 and that dropped me down. We have to absolutely nail the lap, otherwise it’s very costly here.
“Everybody has a pretty good car. It’s cool, right now Formula One is like that; the difference between a good lap and a bad lap can change your position. So it puts pressure on us.”
In comparing his efforts, Lawson’s second session time was 2.691s quicker than his mark in the first.
Given the harsh nature of Bahrain’s climate, practice one saw on-track temperatures touching 50C, as more than one driver reported problems with tyre degradation. For comparison, the track was 13C cooler in the second session after the sun had set.
For that reason, given a better operating window for tyres, the times in practice two were considerably faster than in practice one.
Verstappen missed the first session but could only manage seventh in the second and was 0.092s off Hadjar and 0.825s off Piastri.
Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda, who has replaced Lawson at Red Bull for the rest of the year, was ninth in session one but 18th in session two, and more than one second off the pace on both occasions.
The second session in particular led to both Red Bull drivers complaining about issues with their brakes.
Regardless, Lawson was able to log 50 laps – 23 in session one and 27 in session two.
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Aiding the Kiwi’s cause over the Bahrain Grand Prix is his exceptional record in Sakhir through junior categories. In Formula Two, Lawson had one win and three more podium finishes in five races at the circuit, with his other result being a DNF (did not finish).
With six regular drivers, including Verstappen, sitting out of the first session as part of Formula One’s young driver programme, Lawson’s eighth place was the best result of the four Red Bull-affiliated cars.
His time was 0.270s quicker than Hadjar, and 0.087s quicker than Tsunoda. Lawson was also 1.78s quicker than Red Bull reserve driver Ayumu Iwasa, who filled in for Verstappen.
Lawson’s time also beat Piastri’s by 0.111s.
What’s more, across both practices, Lawson was able to manage separate runs on all three tyre compounds, as ideal preparation for Saturday night’s qualifying, and Sunday night’s grand prix.
The 20 drivers will return to the Bahrain International Circuit on Saturday night (NZT) for practice three, before grand prix qualifying in the early hours of Sunday morning.
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Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.