Formula 1: Liam Lawson fastest Red Bull car in Monaco practice, logs fifth-fastest time

NZ Herald

23-05-2025

The Kiwi got through 67 laps on the Circuit de Monaco, including stints on all three tyre compounds, including long runs on mediums to replicate his likely race strategy.
Leclerc topped both sessions on his home track, and logged the fastest time of the day, 1m 11.355s, as he looks to win Monaco for the second year in succession.
World championship leader Oscar Piastri had the second fastest time of the day with 1m 11.393s, enough for second place in FP2, while Lewis Hamilton was third, 0.105s back from his teammate.
The 20 drivers will get a third and final practice session on Saturday night (NZ time), before the vital qualifying in the early hours of Sunday morning.
However, as a means of negating the huge advantage qualifying brings, this year's Grand Prix will see drivers forced to make at least two pit stops, as opposed to the traditional one.
While Lawson has, for the most part, trailed Hadjar since his return to Racing Bulls, he can claim bragging rights over his teammate after the opening day.
The French rookie triggered a red flag just eight minutes into FP2, when his rear wheel clipped the wall coming out of the tunnel at turn 10, and missed a chunk of the session as mechanics repaired his car. Hadjar had also clipped the wall in FP1, but that did not result in any serious damage.
Hadjar wasn't alone in finding the wall, either, as Piastri put his McLaren into the barrier at turn one, and caused the day's third red flag 20 minutes into FP2.
Once the session resumed, Lawson put in his best effort of the day, and clocked a lap of 1m 11.823s to move as high as third.
Looking to respond to his teammate, Hadjar clocked a 1m 11.842s lap of his own to move within 0.019s of Lawson - only to clip the wall again, this time at turn one to force another limp back into the pits.
Earlier, Lawson clocked the 17th fastest time in FP1, admittedly as neither Racing Bulls car made use of the soft tyres during the opening session.
The Kiwi logged a best lap of 1m 13.429s in practice one, and was 1.465s off Leclerc's 1m 11.964s.
Verstappen was second, 0.163s off Leclerc, while Piastri was fifth, 0.378s back from the Ferrari.
Hadjar, meanwhile, was 13th with a best lap of 1m 13.187s, 0.242s faster than Lawson. Like his teammate, though, Hadjar also completed the first session without using the soft tyre.
The dangers of Monaco were on show from the opening session, when Charles Leclerc's Ferrari went into the back of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, who himself had moved over to allow a faster car through, and caused an early red flag just 10 minutes into the weekend.
That incident saw Stroll's first session end prematurely, and handed a one-place grid penalty for the Grand Prix. After a brief five-minute delay, the session resumed, as Lawson struggled to produce a time to challenge the top 10.
Like Leclerc and Stroll, Lawson avoided a potential collision with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, when the seven-time world champion braked at turn 18.
With 30 minutes remaining in the opening session, Lawson complained to his race engineer, Ernesto Desiderio, that he could smell an issue with his brakes, but returned to the track six minutes later, and got through the rest of the session without any incident.
All up, Lawson got through 36 laps in FP1, and was able to get in an 18-lap long run in on the medium compound, as a means of replicating the likely Racing Bulls strategy for Monday morning's Grand Prix.