Liam Lawson has described how he drove around "aimlessly" at the start of FP2 for the Mexico City Grand Prix, having sat out the first hour of running for Ayumu Iwasa.
Doing so satisfied the first of two sessions the New Zealander must be sidelined for this season, with the second likely to come at the year-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
However, it was also the first time the 23-year-old had deliberately not completed FP1 during his young career.
Lawson got his F1 debut on a weekend when he missed the opening session, following Daniel Ricciardo breaking his hand in FP1 at the Dutch Grand Prix in 2023.
Although this occasion was considerably more disconcerting for the Racing Bulls driver. After finishing FP2 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in P11, he conceded he initially "felt lost" out on track.
"I think I knew that it was gonna feel weird getting in [after missing FP1], and I was obviously gonna have to get up to speed and stuff like that, but I felt lost at the start," he explained.
"Honestly, I really... like I was just driving around aimlessly for a little bit.
"So it's really tricky here. We know that it's slippery, high altitude, low grip, but I think, naturally, you're looking at everybody else who's had a session — or, actually, probably just half the grid, because pretty much half the grid was young drivers in FP1.
"So yeah, it was tricky, but I think the cars in a decent place."
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'I don't fully feel like I'm there yet'
Lawson was one of nine drivers to spend FP1 on the pit wall, and did not feel he completely got to grips with the circuit during his sole hour at the wheel of his VCARB 02.
"Honestly, I don't fully feel like I'm there yet, to be honest," he stated. "It's tricky. There's a couple of combinations; Turn 1, 2, 3, where trying to link them all up is very tricky.
"You have to get the Kerbs right. If you get one of them wrong, it bounces the car, and then it's a bit like that around the whole lap.
"So honestly, I don't fully feel there. But obviously, we have another practice session to try and put those things all together."
When it was put to him that he might need to have faith that the track will come to him, and that he should not try to do too much too soon, he reflected on missteps early in a weekend over the course of the current campaign.
"It's tricky, because I think quite a few times this year we've maybe chased the car a little bit too hard at the start of the weekend, and then it's come away from us a little bit," he shared.
"We have to be, I guess, aware that the tracks not ideal. It's still getting better. It's going to get a lot better before qualifying — should get a lot better before qualifying.
"So, trying to figure out the best quali car, might not feel like it right now, but that's what we're trying to do."
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