Formula 1 recap: Liam Lawson finishes 13th in Melbourne Grand Prix FP1 and FP2 sessions
All the action from free practice one and two ahead of Formula One’s Melbourne Grand Prix.
A wrap of today's practice sessions
Christopher Reive
Brought to you by our man on the ground in Melbourne, Alex Powell.
As for me, I'll leave the blog there and let you get on with you evening. Thanks for tuning in. Alex and I will be back tomorrow afternoon for FP3 from 2pm and will take you right through until then end of qualifying.
Hopefully we'll see you again tomorrow. Have a good night.
End of session
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Lawson again finishes the session with the 13th best time - 1m 21.358s
It's Piastri at the top with the best time of the day - 1m 19.729s.
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Oh, no, there he is. The Cadillac makes it out on to the track briefly. He's parked up before even setting a lap time.
No time?
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Looks like Cadillac's Sergio Perez will not make it out on to the track in this session.
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Six minutes left in the session.
Verstappen into the gravel
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There have been plenty of lock ups today and that one at speed would've been a bit of a scare for the four-time world champion. He does well to get it back on track, but he's back in the pits now.
Issues for Aston Martin
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Lance Stroll has been asked to box because of an issue with his car. This is shaping up to be a weekend to forget for them.
"Quick stop and we go out again"
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A bit of pit stop practice for team Lawson.
Liam Lawson: FP2, part three
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After pulling out of the pit lane, he tells his team he couldn't get any power.
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Lawson's best time
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So far, the Kiwi's 1m 21.358s is good enough for 12th with 22 minutes remaining.
Most of the drivers on the soft tyre now
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Piastri steals the top time back - 1m 19.729s - with the two Mercedes having the next best times, ahead of the two Ferraris.
Back into the pits for Lawson
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Quick little stint that one - just five laps
Verstappen returns
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The Red Bull ace is back on track after some issues with his car early in the session.
We're halfway through this one, with Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) leading the way with a 1m 19.943s lap.
Alex Powell
Lawson's changed to soft tyres. In FP1, his best effort came on the mediums, so let's see if he can better his time from here.
And just like that, his first effort is a 1m 21.358!
Lawson heading back out
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The Kiwi will get some clear air with only a handful of other drivers currently out on track. He's on the soft tyres this time.
A new time to beat
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George Russell takes the fastest time so far in the session for Mercedes at 1m 20.049s. Russell is among the early favourites to take out the Grand Prix this weekend... Mercedes look like they're going to be pretty quick.
Lawson into the pits
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After eight laps, the Kiwi is heading back into the garage. Watching his onboard, it seems like they're learning a bit about the battery usage. He just mentioned something wasn't quite right before turn three and it was confirmed they "ran out of battery at some point."
Fernando Alonso makes an appearance
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He missed FP1 entirely.
McLaren come back swinging
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Oscar Piastri just posted the top time in the session - 1m 20.638s. The Papaya Pals didn't come close to a top time in FP1.
Alex Powell
And just like that, Lawson's set his best time of the day, 1m 22.019s.
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Lawson's first time in FP2 was just 0.024s slower than his best effort in FP1.
How much quicker can he get?
Liam Lawson out on track
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It's medium tyres again for Lawson.
Elsewhere on track, it looks like Red Bull's Max Verstappen is having some issues with his car and is back in the pits
And we're back
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George Russell and Arvid Lindblad just had a minor, low-speed crash in the pit lane. A bit of confusion as Russell tried to pull out in front of Lindblad, and Lindblad continued rolling forward.
Hilarious start to the session.
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About 15 minutes out from FP2
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It will be interesting to see how much faster the times get between the two sessions.
A reminder from FP1, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc posted the fastest lap at 1m 20.267s. Liam Lawson was 13th-fastest on track, while McLaren's world champion Lando Norris only completed seven laps.
Alex Powell
We've just heard from Aston Martin team principal, Adrian Newey.
It was already clear how bad things were for the team, but the scale of problems faced is much starker, in regards to the Honda engine.
A large number of Honda's staff left before the deal to link with Aston Martin was signed. That, though, was not communicated with the team.
Simply put, the team building Honda's engine this year are doing so for the first time in Formula One.
As a result, we're seeing the struggles with the engine from testing in Barcelona, Bahrain, and now Melbourne.
This weekend at the very least could be very dire for the team, with real doubts over their participation in qualifying tomorrow, before the race itself.
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Alex Powell
That was an impressive session for Arvid Lindblad. Despite his power struggles early, the 18-year-old still managed 18 laps, and finished fifth - ahead of drivers many years his senior.
The grid's only rookie was also 1.3s clear of Lawson, who was clearly on a fact-finding mission, considering his best time came on medium tyres instead of softs.
Session by session
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Lawson began with a 13-lap session on medium tyres before heading into the garage. He returned for a shot eight-laps stint, again on mediums, before switching the softs for his final six laps.
Lindblad was limited by a false start as he parked up on the pit lane exit. He had two stints on the track in the hour-long session - an 11-lap run on mediums and a nine-lap stint on softs.
I think Racing Bulls will be happy with the amount of data they get from that session.
McLaren playing it safe?
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Only seven laps for Lando Norris in that session, while Oscar Piastri's 21 were among the lower side - though not by much.
With 28 laps in the session, Liam Lawson had the fourth-most - behind Ferrari's Leclerc (33) and Hamilton (30), and Williams' Carlos Sainz (30)
End of the session
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It's 13th-fastest for Lawson, with a best lap time of 1m22.613s.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is fastest at 1m 20.267s, just ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
It's the two Ferraris at the top, ahead of the two Red Bulls, then Lindblad fifth.
Only a few minutes left in the session here
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The Racing Bulls are back out on the track, with Lindblad just posting the fifth-fastest time.
Issues for Perez
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The Cadillac driver complains of a lot of engine breaking after he skids off the track.
Good news for you Lewis Hamilton fans
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He's currently the fastest man on track. The Ferrari driver leads the way with a 1m 20.736s lap time.
Alex Powell
The Mercedes power unit, so far, hasn't been all it's cracked up to be!
George Russell is the best in a Mercedes-powered car, but 0.6s off the pace. McLaren's Oscar Piastri is next, 1.2s back from the leader.
Both Racing Bulls into the pits
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The team decide to pull both drivers off the track together, with Lawson having to slow right down to a crawl as Lindblad's car is wheeled back into the garage.
Alex Powell
Worth noting that Lawson has put in the equal most laps of the session so far.
Currently, he's completed 21, along with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and Williams' Alex Albon.
These three practice sessions are going to be so important for teams to work out where they need to improve these new cars.
The softs are out
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After pit stops, most of the grid are now out on the soft tyres, with the top six fastest drivers now all on softs.
Lawson will head back into the pits after one more timed lap by the sounds of things.
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Lawson currently holds the ninth-fastest lap, 1.705s off the pace - now set by Verstappen at 1m 20.908s.
Lindblad is 15th fastest, about 1s further back.
Fastest lap update
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It's Leclerc at the top of the leaderboard again, this time posting a 1m 21.227s lap.
We have 24 minutes left in the session.
Lawson getting back out there
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Not a long break for the Kiwi, who is making his way back out onto the track, still on the medium tyres.
Mercedes making it a session
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After getting through some laps on the medium tyre, George Russell is sent straight back out on softs.
Lindblad out on track
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The second Racing Bulls car is out on the track now after a false start earlier on.
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Aston Martin appear in real trouble. Even with designer Adrian Newey, the Honda power unit has only caused problems so far.
Fernando Alonso won't be on track at all this session, and possibly the second in a few hours as well.
Lance Stroll is on track, but is last of all drivers to have set a time, 29 seconds off the pace.
Lawson into the pits
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13 laps on the mediums in that stint for the Kiwi.
Hadjar goes fastest
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Lawson's old teammate Isack Hadjar has taken the fastest time, 1m 21.460s.
Elsewhere, Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas complains of being blocked by former teammate Lewis Hamilton.
On the radio
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Lawson is being asked after every lap now whether he wants to stay out. The Kiwi seems happy to be out there and getting a feel for the track in the new car.
Lawson through 10
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That's 10 laps for Liam Lawson so far, with a fastest lap of 1m 23.153s
Fastest on track
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Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is currently the fastest man on the track, with a lap time of 1m 22.080s
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Mixed signs for Racing Bulls so far. Lawson is doing very well among the early times, currently inside the top 10.
Lindblad's reliability issues should be a huge concern. The team are still getting used to the new Red Bull-Ford power unit.
Watch this space.
Piastri and Lindblad in the garage
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McLaren have pulled Piastri back into the garage to assess the power issue. The Australian was still sitting in the car, so it remains to be seen whether he'll get back out there.
It's the same situation for Lindblad, who is in the Racing Bulls' garage.
Early trouble!
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Cars are having issues already! McLaren's Oscar Piastri is claiming he's lost power, while Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad has stopped in the pit exit.
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And the first drivers are out on track in FP1, Lawson among them.
"Hopefully 24 rounds"
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Before we get started, there is still uncertainty over the Middle Eastern races coming in the next month.
There have been no guarantees over Bahrain or Saudi Arabia. Mercedes' George Russell told media yesterday that the drivers trust whatever decision is made by the FIA.
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“On a personal level, it’s good to have a full pre-season and know the direction we’re going with in development." - Liam Lawson
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G'day from Melbourne
Alex Powell
Kia ora from Albert Park Street Circuit! It's been a full on couple of days in Melbourne, with all drivers facing the media yesterday.
Today, though, we'll finally get to see a proper glimpse of these new cars on track.
There's been suggestions teams had been holding back in pre-season, but now is when it counts.
We're about 20 minutes away from the start of the weekend's first practice session.
Earlier this week
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Well, yesterday, Alex Powell spoke to Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar about Liam Lawson and what it will take for him to succeed.
Hello and welcome
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For the first time in 2026, it's Formula One race week!
The grid heads to Melbourne this week for the first event in what shapes up as an interesting season on the track. Christopher Reive here at NZME Towers to bring you the action from today's free practice sessions, with comments from Alex Powell, who is on the ground in Melbourne.
By Alex Powell in Melbourne
He might not say it himself, but Liam Lawson can quietly be content that his place in Formula One is no longer in any doubt.
For the first three years of his career in motorsport’s pinnacle, the Kiwi’s time in a race seat has always been undercut by his status as a fulltime driver.
In 2023, his five-race cameo as an injury replacement was undercut by the fact there was no seat for him to take, regardless of how well he did.
A year later, Lawson’s place was again subject to speculation over which team he would race for, as six grands prix earned him rapid promotion to Red Bull’s senior ranks.
He was then demoted to junior side Racing Bulls just two races into the 2025 season, and spent the rest of the year proving he deserved to remain on the grid, beating out the challenge of Yuki Tsunoda to do so.
But as a new season begins in Melbourne this weekend, Lawson’s importance to his team takes on new meaning.
For a start, his driver feedback will be key in helping develop Racing Bulls’ car after sweeping new regulations. Biggest of all, he’s cemented firmly as his team’s lead driver alongside Arvid Lindblad, the only rookie on the 2026 grid.
But asked if he feels his career is now in a safer place than it was six months ago, Lawson outlined that he has bigger fish to fry than his job security.
“Honestly, I’ve never really looked at it too much like that,” he said. “I’ve been in and around the sport for a long time, but it’s not something I think too much about.
“I’m just focused on the races ahead this year. The new cars this year are the only thing we’ve been thinking about.
“On a personal level, it’s good to have a full pre-season and know the direction we’re going with in development.
“I’m just looking forward to getting on track and getting things started.”
Arguably, the biggest tick in the box of Lawson remaining on the Formula One grid comes off the track.
As Red Bull as an organisation underwent huge changes throughout 2025, none was perhaps more significant than the departure of long-time adviser, Dr Helmut Marko.
Since Red Bull’s entry as a side in 2004, Marko has for the most part pulled the strings for the team, before the junior side were formed two years later – firstly as Toro Rosso, then AlphaTauri and now Racing Bulls.
It was Marko who instigated the swap that saw an 18-year-old Max Verstappen move from Toro Rosso into Red Bull mid-season, and also pulled at threads that saw Lawson replace Daniel Ricciardo in 2024.
However, after former team principal Christian Horner said Lawson’s demotion from Red Bull wasn’t his decision, it’s widely understood Marko had played a role in that brutal call.
And given Melbourne 2026 will be the first race in Red Bull or Racing Bulls’ history in which Marko wasn’t part of either side, Lawson said while his absence hasn’t been noticeable as of yet, the team are confident with what they have.
“To be fair, other than testing, we haven’t really been trackside,” he added. “He was somebody who’s been very powerful in my career, especially in the early years as part of the junior programme.
“This is the first time we’ve been at a racetrack since the end of last year. For us, the way our team works internally is very similar to how we finished last year.
“I think we feel in a pretty good position.”
Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix begins at 5pm (NZT).
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.