Liam Lawson issues Racing Bulls clear instruction after 'tough' Monza verdict

Liam Lawson has conceded Racing Bulls endured a “tough” day at Monza as he called on the team to make improvements overnight.

The New Zealander ended the second practice session in 17th place as he struggled for pace around the high-speed Italian track.

Team-mate Isack Hadjar, fresh from his maiden podium last weekend at Zandvoort, narrowly missed out on finishing inside the top 10 at the end of FP2.

Lawson was lacking half a second to his team-mate as he outlined his hope for improved performance on Saturday.

“It was tough on our side,” Lawson said.

“It’s very small margins here, so we’re trying to extract everything out of the car.

“We missed a little bit [on Friday]. Better we do it today, learn from it and try put ourselves in the best position for Saturday. But there’s work to do.

Expanding on where he is struggling for pace, Lawson explained: “Just balance, trying to change things from FP1 to FP2.

“You expect it to go in a certain way and it goes the other way. Trying to get on top of things and optimise the car for qualifying.”

When asked if the car has the potential to fight for Q3, Lawson replied: “I hope so. But at this stage, we definitely have some work to do to get to that.”