Liam Lawson saw his second free practice session with Scuderia AlphaTauri end prematurely when he was forced to stop on track at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with a potential hydraulic issue, but he was delighted with the work he was able to do before handing the car back to Yuki Tsunoda.
The New Zealander took the track in Mexico City on Friday, his second session of the year with AlphaTauri having done the same session in the Belgian Grand Prix weekend just after the summer break, and he ended his day sixteenth fastest, the best of the five junior drivers on track.
With a Pirelli tyre test happening in the second session, AlphaTauri only gave Lawson one tyre set to use during his hour on track. And once he got used to the track, Lawson was able to put some good laps together until he pulled off the track with just minutes to go in the stadium section after his mechanical drama.
“It’s been great to be back on track with Scuderia AlphaTauri after my last shot out in Spa,” said Lawson. “This time we played a bit more with set-up changes, as the more I drive the car the more accurate feedback I can give.
“Due to the Pirelli test in FP2 we saved a set of tyres for that, so I only ran on one set, which I believe most the juniors did today. It’s a really interesting circuit. I’d been on the sim a lot obviously, but when I first drove it was quite eye opening, there’s very low grip and it’s extremely slippery, especially through some of the high-speed areas.
“Driving through the stadium though was crazy, the atmosphere is incredible, even when I had to stop the car there, they were all cheering. Sadly, we had to stop because we had a loss of pressure. However, I was able to complete most the session anyway, so it didn’t impact too much.”
