Liam Lawson outlines critical Dutch GP factor in 'tricky' prediction

Liam Lawson has outlined a critical factor surrounding the "tricky" Dutch Grand Prix, predicting that being on the circuit at the right time will be crucial. 

The opening day at Zandvoort was littered with incidents, causing much disruption to both first and second practice. 

Three red flags featured on Friday, limiting long run data gathering for every team. Remarkably, none of the chaos was caused by wet weather, which kept its distance from the circuit. 

Lawson ended F1's first day of track action since the summer break 14th on the timesheets, but hopeful of positive weekend. 

"It was good, honestly, it's been a tricky day," said Lawson. "It's a hard track, and that probably showed today. 

"But yeah, feeling comfortable, car's in a good place, struggled a little bit at the end with the soft tyre, we didn't really do a proper lap in the end. But in I think in general, the car is good, but we'll find out tomorrow."

Racing Bulls attempted to maximise its time on track to gain as much data as possible, with the weather remaining a huge unknown for qualifying and the race. 

Lawson is aware how quickly the weather could turn and how frequent incidents are, making being on the circuit at the right time a crucial factor, particularly for qualifying.

"Yeah, we just tried to make the most of track time today, and then, obviously we'll see what the weather does. But in this place, it's always up in the air," added Lawson.

"I think everybody was trying to play it by ear today in second practice and then tomorrow, obviously it's going to be the same thing. So trying to maximise track time is going to be important. 

"If qualifying is like this, then it makes it really tricky. You're trying to be on track at the right time, trying to avoid yellow flags, red flags. 

"That can be the hardest part, to be honest, more than just having a quick car. So we'll keep chipping away at the car overnight, and then try and make the most of tomorrow and see where we end up."