Lawson targeting Q3 after “positive” Friday practice in Imola

Liam Lawson eased into his first Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend with steady progress across a “positive” Friday, banking valuable laps and data while eyeing a stronger step forward in Qualifying.

Gearing up for RB’s home Grand Prix, Lawson kicked off the first hour of practice on the softest C6 compound tyre, setting an opening time of 1:19.963s before racking up some long-run miles to start FP1.

The Kiwi returned to the pitlane, however, not before he improved into P8 on the timesheets, sitting five-tenths behind his teammate.

With 45 minutes on the clock, Lawson rejoined the session for a brief 15-minute stint that left him at the bottom end of the order, however, only five-hundredths back on Isack Hadjar. 

The #30 made a more significant gain, carving three-tenths out of his previous fastest time to improve to the border of the top ten after completing 15 laps, before retreating to the RB garage as a lull fell over the whole circuit. 

Lawson commenced his high-fuel, long-run program when he made his way out of the pitlane, however, a late Red Flag brought the session to a premature close, leaving the RB driver in P15 to end FP1.

“FP1 wasn’t too bad,” Lawson said. 

“We knew we had some work to do, so we tried some stuff in FP2 and both went in different directions to get a good idea of the car and we definitely did that, which is positive. 

“Tomorrow, we will look to apply this.”

When the second hour of practice kicked off, the representative conditions and the comfort of the medium compound tyre guided Lawson into an early P4 with a time of 1:16.931s.

He fell down the order, remaining in the top ten for a brief moment before settling into P16 as he returned to the pitlane for a lengthy pause.

Lawson rejoined the session with just over half of the allocated FP2 time remaining, making his way back into the top ten on the C6 tyre. 

His time of 1:16.255s slipped while Hadjar sat pretty in P7, running almost five-tenths quicker around the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari than Lawson.

Having retreated to the pitlane after that run, the #30 finally rejoined the session with less than 15 minutes remaining. 

Lapping on the medium compound, Lawson’s final stint was brought to a premature end after his teammate caused a late Red Flag, finding himself beached at Tamburello after making contact with the barriers.

The field was able to get going again, however, the limited time on the clock only permitted Lawson to complete a practice start on the grid before retreating for the evening and switching focus to tomorrow’s first competitive session.

“We are pushing for Q3 but it’s hard to tell what our performance will be at the moment, everyone is still improving and obviously we made a big step on the other side of the garage, so hopefully we can do the same tomorrow and even take that a step further,” Lawson said.

“The softs have been okay, nothing to really complain about at the moment. 

“Tomorrow is the more important day, but so far its been smooth.”

Ready to put his VCARB 02 to the test, Lawson will have one final hour of practice before taking on the all-important Qualifying session in Imola.

Free Practice 3 will take place at 20:30 AEST, followed by Qualifying at 00:00 AEST.

Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

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