The two Racing Bull drivers, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, shared mixed fortunes during the F1 Singapore GP practice sessions, as one driver hit the wall while the other battled traffic and tyre issues. Their detailed post-session reflections highlight both frustrations and optimism heading into the weekend.
Lawson’s Crash After Aggressive Kerb Use
Lawson described in detail how his day unraveled when he attacked Singapore’s punishing kerbs too aggressively: “I got a little bit too much kerb in the 16 and bounced me across to the left and then I took too much kerb at 17 and then just tried to carry the speed and right at the last minute lost it and hit the wall so it’s a shame.”
The crash came just as the Kiwi had begun to feel comfortable after early struggles. He emphasized that the car’s raw speed remained encouraging: “Overall the car’s very fast, it’s been fast today, we had a difficult P1, I tried some things and have reverted and it felt a lot better in P2, felt a lot more comfortable up until that point so yeah, it’s frustrating so obviously in the session in the wall but up to that point it was strong and at least short run pace at the moment looks quite good.”
Singapore’s unforgiving layout has punished many drivers in the past, and Lawson’s moment showed just how precise drivers must be to survive a flying lap under the lights.
Chasing Setup Gains Overnight
Despite the setback, Lawson insisted Racing Bulls could still extract more pace:
“I think it’s very strong, I don’t know, we don’t know what the others are doing so we obviously know what we’re doing and we’re very happy with where the car’s at but obviously we have to keep chasing it because it’s very very close so we’ll make some more changes overnight and fine tune it, I’ll learn from obviously what happened today and then we’ll try to put it together for tomorrow. Thanks. Thank you.”
Hadjar’s Confident Singapore Debut
For teammate Isack Hadjar, Singapore practice marked his very first experience of the Marina Bay street circuit. Despite the steep learning curve, the French rookie quickly felt at home:
“The car works well, I’m comfortable on this track, even though it’s my first time I really like it but we’re not as fast as we look to be honest, we’re still in the game but I still think Aston Martin is quicker.”
Hadjar revealed that timing flattered Racing Bulls slightly, but he remained realistic about where they stand: “We did our lap time quite late in the session, we were struggling to switch on the tyres on the first push lap so there’s still some work to do.”
Battling Traffic and Red Flags
The stop-start nature of FP2 made life difficult for Hadjar, who repeatedly lost momentum to congestion and interruptions: “It was such a disruptive FP2, how did you personally find that out there? Really annoying, traffic was noisy, every time I was on the lap I had a bit of traffic then I’m on a good lap then there’s a red flag so it’s a bit frustrating but we handled it really well.”
Asked to sum up his day in French, Hadjar kept it simple: “Good day on track.”
For a rookie, keeping composure in such chaotic conditions was an achievement in itself, particularly on a track where rhythm and confidence matter most.
In the disrupted FP2 session, Isack Hadjar turned in an impressive performance, qualifying second behind Oscar Piastri with a lap of 1:30.846 — just 0.132 seconds slower than the McLaren. Meanwhile Liam Lawson struggled to complete a representative lap after crashing at Turn 17, bringing out a red flag and ending his session early.
The story of the F1 Singapore GP practice sessions reflects two sides of Racing Bulls’ campaign: the raw speed is there, but consistency remains the next hurdle. If Lawson can rebound overnight and Hadjar continues adapting at this rate, the team could leave Singapore with one of its strongest weekends of 2025.
