Formula 1: Liam Lawson clips wall twice on tricky day of Monaco Grand Prix practice
Liam Lawson had a mixed day in practice for Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix, and finished both sessions as the slowest of Red Bull’s four cars.
With qualifying being more important in Monaco than it is for any other circuit on the Formula One calendar, and perhaps even the entirety of motorsport, the Racing Bulls driver logged 66 laps across two practice sessions on the first day of the race weekend.
The Kiwi’s best time of 1m 14.785s came in the day’s second practice session (FP2), and he finished 16th, 1.759s off the pace. Lawson was 0.037s off his teammate Arvid Lindblad, who set the 14th fastest time.
Lawson was on to improve on that best time after fitting a new set of tyres in the final minutes of FP2, only for Sergio Perez’s Cadillac’s brakes to catch fire, and trigger a red flag that ended the day.
Given the narrow nature of the Circuit de Monaco, starting inside the top 10 will be a huge boost for Lawson come lights out, as he did last year when he took eighth place, at the time a career-best result.
However, Lawson’s day wasn’t without incident. He clipped the wall at the exit of turn 16 twice, once in each session, and avoided a penalty for leaving the pit lane while the red light was on.
“I messed up bro, I’m sorry,” Lawson was heard telling his race engineer after clipping the wall in the first session (FP1).
Ferrari appear to be the team to beat after the first day, after Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of the day, 1m 13.026s in FP2, after Charles Leclerc celebrated his new contract with the team earlier in the week by going quickest in FP1.
World championship leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes was fifth, 0.503s back from Hamilton’s time.
Reigning champion Lando Norris was limited to just eight laps in FP2, before he was forced to retire with a mechanical issue.
Earlier, in FP1, Lawson finished with the 19th fastest time, and was 2.453s off the pace, and 0.042s back from his teammate in 18th.
The Kiwi logged 31 laps in the session, for a best effort of 1m 16.431s. Ferrari’s Leclerc topped the time in the first practice, with a 1m 13.978s on his home track. Leclerc finished 0.226s clear of second place, claimed by Hamilton.
However, FP1 was stopped for red flags not once, but twice. Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar drove into the barriers at the turn 15-16 chicane, before the session was ended two minutes shy of the hour mark when Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin lost a piece of its front wing.
Teams will have one more practice session tonight (NZT), before qualifying begins at 2am on Sunday.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.