Lawson expecting “dogfight” with Haas in Abu Dhabi

Sitting at a significant deficit to his constructors’ championship rival after the first day of practice, Liam Lawson says he is expecting the rest of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend to be “a little bit of a dogfight”.

Teaming up with rookie driver Ayumu Iwasa during the first hour of running in Abu Dhabi, FP1 was all about gathering data to aid RB in their chase down of Haas this weekend.

Lawson opened the session on the medium compound tyre, quickly finding his rhythm after setting a time eight-tenths off the then-benchmark.

He continued without complication for 40 minutes of the session, rotating through different sets of the C4 tyre before finally putting in some performance laps on the soft compound.

Boosting himself from a fallen P13, Lawson set off on his first red-marked run which rewarded him with a top-ten time of 1:25.463s as wind conditions began to pick up around the Yas Marina.

Despite the “gusty” conditions, Lawson continued to make his way through the 16-corner circuit until the final two minutes of FP1, when he completed a pitstop simulation before darting out through the pit exit tunnel.

The #30 ended FP1 with the 12th fastest time, six-tenths quicker than Iwasa, as the field headed to the grid to complete their first practices start of the weekend.

“We think [the car is decent], so far, obviously, we have another practice session to go and then qualifying so, yeah,” Lawson said.

“Right now we’re in a good place, obviously, we’re chipping away but so is everybody else.

“But I think, compared to last week, we’re hopefully in a stronger position.

“We did feel more confident coming here, I would say, with the car, but at the same time, we’re not exactly where we want to be, you know, we have Haas with Nico [Hulkenberg] — I think he was fourth in that session… third in that session!

“Yeah, so we obviously need to try and bridge that gap but it’s a strong start.”

The second practice session of the day took place under more representative conditions, with the sun setting in the backdrop creating the perfect scene for drivers to turn up the pace in FP2.

To start his final Friday session, Lawson instantly shot to the top of the table, experiencing the momentary high as he set a short-lived benchmark of 1:25.537s before settling into fourth fastest.

Over time, the Kiwi fell 10 places during his long-run program before returning to his garage at the halfway mark of the session, making the switch to the soft compound tyre.

Despite crossing the line nearly a second off the then-benchmark pace, Lawson’s first tour of the Yas Marina Circuit on the red-marked tyre was fast enough for P6.

He wasn’t able to better the lap of 1:24.503s, instead dropping down the order and out of the top ten to sit just six milliseconds behind Yuki Tsunoda as the clock ticked down.

The RB driver took a quick break in his garage, emerging out of the pitlane on the medium tyre to end the first day of running in P11. 

“We hope [to have the pace to fight for Q3], but honestly, it’s so close,” he said.

“Like the midfield right now is… yeah, one-tenth up and we’re P8 or something like that, and then one-tenth back and we’re P16.

“So, it’s very, very close.”

One of the most significant outcomes of the session was the deficit between Haas and RB, with Nico Hulkenberg sending a message to the competition after he finished FP2 within the top three.

Hulkenberg set a time of 1:23.979s after his first C5 run, placing him two-tenths behind the McLaren duo in P3.

“Honestly, no because it’s been like that recently, it’s been quite quick,” said Lawson, admitting he’s not surprised by the pace of the Haas.

“You know, in Qatar, he (Hulkenberg) kept a Red Bull behind in the race and they have been strong a lot recently.

“Unfortunately, the edge we maybe had on them earlier in the season is gone and it’s probably going to be a little bit of a dogfight this weekend.”

The final practice session of the season will take place at 21:30 AEDT, with Lawson and RB hoping to rediscover their “edge” as they attempt to bridge the eight-point margin to Haas this weekend.

Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Schedule: 

Friday, December 6:

FP1: 20:30 – 21:30

Saturday, December 7:

FP2: 00:00 – 01:00

FP3: 21:30 – 22:30

Sunday, December 8:

Qualifying: 01:00 – 02:00

Monday, December 9:

Race: 00:00

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