Lawson makes strong start in Hungary, top 10 in both practice sessions

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Author: Alex Powell,
Publish Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2026, 8:28am

Liam Lawson has made an encouraging start to Formula One’s Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, and recorded top 10 finishes in both of Friday’s free practice sessions.

While missing an upgrade package in Belgium last week cost the Kiwi – and ended a streak of five successive points finishes – the updates to Lawson’s Racing Bulls car appear to have paid off on the high downforce circuit.

Lawson’s best lap time, 1m 20.041s, was enough for seventh place in the day’s second practice session (FP2), and had him 1.312s off the pace set by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton’s leading mark of 1m 18.729s.

And having played second fiddle to his teammate in Belgium last week, Lawson’s best time had him as the faster of the two Racing Bulls cars by 0.212s, as Arvid Lindblad finished 10th in FP2.

After beating Lawson to receive Racing Bulls’ upgrades for Belgium, Lindblad finished ninth at Spa-Francorchamps last week, as Red Bull’s sister side cemented itself as a challenger for the ‘best of the rest’ tag outside of the sport’s top four teams.

For his part, Lawson moved to quell any expectation that the upgrades would solve all his problems. If Friday is anything to go by, though, the Kiwi is well positioned to match the eighth place he recorded in this same race last year, if not better it.

FP2 times tend to be more representative of how a car might perform in qualifying, given the similarity in track conditions.

Both Ferrari cars had a strong day, as Charles Leclerc finished 0.148s off the pace set by his teammate in FP2, having topped the time sheets in FP1.

World championship leader Kimi Antonelli has plenty of work to do, after finishing 1.964s off Hamilton’s FP2 time, having sat out of the opening session. However, Antonelli was also denied the chance to set a lap on soft tyres.

Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix begins at 2am on Sunday morning (NZT).

Earlier, in FP1, Lawson’s position was slightly boosted by five rookies stepping in through Formula One’s young driver programme.

With Antonelli and Oscar Piastri of McLaren missing, the Kiwi’s fastest time of 1m 20.866s was enough for 10th, 1.791s off the pace set by Leclerc – who left the session early with mechanical issues in the last 10 minutes.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was Leclerc’s closest challenger, as his lap of 1m 19.559s was 0.484s back from the Ferrari.

Lindblad’s best time, 1m 20.760s, was just 0.106s quicker than his teammate, as the pair continued to enjoy Racing Bulls upgrade package introduced in Belgium last week.

However, Lawson’s attempt to improve his best effort was thwarted, when he was forced to abort a lap on a set of fresh soft tyres when Lance Stroll lost control of his Aston Martin at turn two, before suffering a suspension failure that triggered a red flag.

Mercedes’ Frederik Vesti was the best of the five rookies, with his best lap of 1m 20.467s enough for seventh, 1.392s off the pace.

Teams will get one final practice session later on Saturday night, before qualifying in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.