Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson had an impressive start to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, managing two top 10 finishes in Friday's practice sessions.
Lawson set the ninth fastest time in FP1, improving to seventh in FP2. The placings were better than his Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar, who finished 10th in FP1 and 13th in FP2.
“Today was good,” Lawson said about his performance in Baku.
“It’s very different to what I remember here from Formula Two. But I think they did a good job at cleaning the track."
He said the team was aiming for a top 10 finish in tomorrow morning's qualifying.
"There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be, we just have to keep chasing it with everyone else," he said.
“We’ll see what we get tomorrow.”
McLaren heads into race on verge of constructors' title
The Formula 1 title race is heating up, and McLaren's golden rule — “Let 'em race” — risks expanding into a whole rule book.
Asking Oscar Piastri to give up second place to Lando Norris at the Italian Grand Prix because of a slow pit stop showed how McLaren's seemingly simple approach risks being bogged down in debates about what's fair on track.
The battle between Norris and Piastri will become McLaren's sole focus if the team can wrap up the constructors’ title Monday with a record seven races remaining.
Friday practice brought some unexpected problems, however, as both McLarens bumped the wall.
McLaren leads by 337 points and takes the title if one driver wins and the other is second or third, which would end the faint mathematical chances of Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull.
It's a big contrast to last year, when McLaren held off Ferrari in the final race of the season to win the constructors’ title for the first time in 26 years. “It’s a pretty remarkable position that we’re in,” Piastri said. “A very proud moment for everybody and myself included.”
Norris and Hamilton fastest in practice
It didn't go all McLaren's way in Friday practice after Norris and Piastri bumped the barriers in the second session.
Norris said it was “costly” and “annoying” that he had to limp back to the pits after hitting the wall with the rear left wheel midway through the session, and didn’t come back out. Piastri had his own brush with the barrier and was 12th, two places behind Norris.
“It was feeling good until then,” Norris said of his incident. "I’d rather have this and push and find the limits than not push at all.”
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time, .074 of a second ahead of his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, with George Russell third for Mercedes after overcoming an illness to take part.
Norris led the way in first practice by .310 of a second from Piastri, who needed McLaren's mechanics to check a problem with his car. Leclerc was third. The session was stopped for over 20 minutes while damage to a trackside curb was fixed.
“I think the pace is there, it’s just not the easiest to get the most out of it,” Piastri said.
Piastri also faced an investigation for allegedly failing to slow for yellow flags in the second session. Similar cases have prompted grid penalties in the past, but Piastri got only a reprimand because the yellow flag was withdrawn a split second after the signal was first visible to him.
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