Lawson struggles to “piece things together” in Budapest

Liam Lawson described his opening day at the Hungaroring as “a tricky day to piece things together”, with the Racing Bulls driver left frustrated by persistent traffic throughout both Friday practice sessions.

Tackling the Hungarian Grand Prix in Formula 1 machinery for the very first time, Lawson eased into his weekend with an early dash on the hard compound tyre.

The Kiwi quickly found his rhythm, briefly climbing into the top ten with a time of 1:18.859s, only to be overshadowed when teammate Isack Hadjar punched in a lap six-tenths quicker.

A return on fresh C3s helped Lawson rebound to P6 at the halfway point, but traffic soon crept in as an issue — most notably when he “nearly drove into Isack” on one of his soft tyre push laps.

Though unable to extract a blistering lap from the red-marked compound, Lawson looked to be enjoying himself as he tested the limits, eventually closing FP1 in 14th with a best time of 1:17.184s.

“It’s been a little bit tricky for us, I would say,” the #30 admitted.

“It’s fun to drive, it’s a very cool track, very full on, but yeah, just with how small it is with traffic management and stuff like that, it’s quite tough.

“I would say we have a little bit of work to do, as well, so yeah.

“One more session tomorrow morning, and we’ll try and piece things together.”

Lawson’s second taste of the Hungaroring got off to a slightly delayed start, with the Racing Bulls driver waiting five minutes before joining the action in FP2.

Getting to work on the medium compound tyre, the Kiwi quickly cracked the top ten before slipping to P15 as others ramped up their pace. 

A tidy lap later lifted him back to eighth, a spot he reclaimed again on the soft tyre, despite lapping almost four-tenths slower than Hadjar.

Progress stalled as traffic struck, with Carlos Sainz — driving a Williams that had lost all telemetry and communications — compromising Lawson’s final corner as he unknowingly lingered on the racing line.

Switching back to the medium compound for long-run simulations, the #30 wrapped up the day in P15, showing pockets of promise despite the circumstances.

“I mean, it’s very close as always at the moment, so yeah, I think if we can find some small things, it’ll make a big difference in terms of where we are,” Lawson said.

“We’re a bit out of position right now.

“It’s been a tricky day to piece things together and, obviously, that’s what we’re going to try and do tomorrow.”

The Kiwi will have one final hour of practice to iron out any last-minute concerns before taking part in the shootout, which rewarded him with a Q3 appearance just seven days ago.

Free Practice 3 will kick off at 20:30 AEST tonight, followed by the all-important Qualifying session at 00:00 AEST.

Image: Joe Portlock/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

2025 Hungarian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, August 01:

Free Practice 1: 21:30 – 22:30

Saturday, August 02:

Free Practice 2: 01:00 – 02:00

Free Practice 3: 20:30 – 21:30

Sunday, August 03: 

Qualifying: 00:00 – 01:00

Race: 23:00

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