While the Bahrain Grand Prix itself and its all-important Qualifying session will both start at sunset local time, Free Practice 1 commenced in the mid-afternoon heat.
With ambient conditions north of 30 degrees and soaring track temperatures, drivers were left scrabbling for grip.
The Bahrain International Circuit still boasts its original racing surface, now more than two decades old.
Though conditions cooled in time for Free Practice 2, Lawson suggested that hardly helped his cause.
“FP2 was more tricky for us, weirdly,” he explained.
“FP1, track conditions were an absolute disaster. I don’t think I’ve ever driven such a difficult session, to be honest.
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“FP2, the balance went away from us a little bit.
“But in general, I think the car is in a pretty good place; it’s just fine-tuning.
“Tomorrow we have a session in the day, which is not going to help us for quali, so obviously we’ll be looking into [Free Practice 2] and taking what we can for quali tomorrow.”
Lawson was 12th fastest in Practice 2, his best some 0.5s away from teammate Isack Hadjar who was sixth best at the end of the day.
Their order had been reversed earlier in the day, with Lawson eighth best after the opening hour and Hadjar 12th.
With Haas, Williams, and even Alpine showing promising pace on Friday, the emphasis is on delivering fast, clean laps – something Lawson concedes he didn’t do in second practice.
“I made a pretty big mistake in FP1 and it absolutely dropped me,” he explained.
“For all of us, we have to absolutely nail the lap because otherwise it’s very, very costly here.
“I think everybody has a pretty good can and it’s cool because, right now, Formula 1 is a bit like that,” he added.
“The difference between a really good lap and a bad lap can completely change your position, so it puts pressure on us.”
Free Practice 3 for the Bahrain GP begins at 22:30 AEST this evening, with Qualifying to follow at 02:00 AEST on Sunday morning.
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