Kiwi Formula 1 star Liam Lawson has finished in the top ten in both of this morning’s practice sessions for the Mexico City Grand Prix at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Lawson was ninth fastest in FP1, which was interrupted by two red flags, with a 1’19.093 flyer, before improving his best lap to 1:18.560 to go tenth fastest in an FP2 session dedicated to Pirelli tyre testing.
In all, Lawson ran a tidy 55 laps across the weekend’s two opening practice sessions.
“It’s been a very positive day for the team,” he said.
“We’ll find out more tomorrow, but it’s nice to see the stint we made last week is transitioning into this weekend. From our side we have a little bit more to find, but luckily, we have plenty of track time this weekend with the other session tomorrow morning to try and make the most of that.
“Hopefully by Quali we’ll have a car that’s in a good window to get some points.”
Five teams took the opportunity to field rookies in FP1, including Robert Schwartzman standing in for Guanyu Zhou at Sauber, Oliver Bearman driving Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, Kimi Antonelli for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, and Felipe Drugovich for Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin.
IndyCar star Pato O’Ward also made an appearance in Lando Norris’s McLaren.
The first red flag came just five minutes into the session, with debris at the exit of Turn 1.
The second delay came as a result of a crash between Alex Albon and Bearman, with the two coming together at Turn 9.
Bearman was slowing ahead of the incident, which caught Albon off guard, and his car snapped as he lifted, sending him spinning sideways and seeing his right-rear hit the Ferrari’s left front. The contact sent the Williams spinning into the wall, caused significant damage.
The delay for car retrieval and barrier repairs lasted 14 minutes, before practice continued with 24 minutes left on the clock.
Russell’s 1’17.998 was the fastest of FP1, over three-tenths to the good of Carlos Sainz. Yuki Tsunoda completed the top three, ahead of Driver’s Championship leader Max Verstappen, who sat out the final minutes reporting power unit issues.
Nico Hulkenberg was fifth, ahead of Australian star Oscar Piastri. Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, Lawson and Sergio Perez completed a mixed up top ten.
Tsunoda is running this weekend with a floor upgrade, which Lawson will receive for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
There was also drama in FP2, an extended 90-minute session where teams tested Pirelli’s 2025 tyre compounds.
A heavy crash for Russell at Turn 9 early in the session brought a 24-minute red flag and heavily damaged the Mercedes.
Russell took too much kerb at Turn 8, which bottomed out the Mercedes and sent it spinning into the Turn 9 wall, smashing hard into the barriers.
Upon resumption, Pirelli’s testing requirements were completed, bringing a flurry of late times on the 2024 compounds which shuffled the running order.
Sainz’s 1:17.699 second flyer, set on the 2025 C4s, was the fastest of the session, 0.178 seconds to the good of Piastri.
Tsunoda’s strong practice pace continued in FP2, with Lawson’s teammate going third fastest, only 0.001 seconds slower than Piastri. Leclerc was a further 0.009 behind and 0.061 ahead of Norris, who completed the top five, seeing position two until five seperated by less than one-tenth.
Kevin Magnussen, Hamilton, Bottas, Perez and Lawson completed the top ten, the latter 0.861 seconds off the pace of Sainz’s FP2 benchmark.
Williams were unable to repair Albon’s Williams before the session, seeing the Thai driver spend the 90 minute run in the garage.
Verstappen only completed four laps, first battling repeated engine issues early in the session and then brake issues on his return.
The Mexico City Grand Prix returns for FP3 at 6.30 am NZST on Sunday, ahead of qualifying at 10.00 am.
The race itself goes green at 9.00 am on Monday.
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