Here's the thing about Friday practice: usually, you take the timesheets with a pinch of salt. But as Speedcafe reports, Liam Lawson put his Racing Bulls machine right into the thick of the action at the Circuit of the Americas by leaping from 10th in FP1 straight up to sixth in FP2. That is a proper statement of intent.
His session-topping lap of 1m36.331s put him right ahead of both McLaren drivers. To be exact, Lawson was 0.042s quicker than Lando Norris in seventh, with Oscar Piastri sitting a further 0.014s back. Charles Leclerc set the pace at the top for Ferrari, but the real story for Racing Bulls was the stack of new bits bolted to the car. We are talking about a substantial aerodynamic package here, featuring revisions to the floor, bodywork, and both wings.
Our pace on the short runs has been good, but we still have some work to do on the long runs,
“I enjoyed being on track today. We’ve brought some upgrades this weekend, so the car is feeling quick, and I believe there’s still more to unlock with some fine tuning,” Lawson said.
It wasn't all plain sailing under the Texas sun. Tyre degradation bit harder than anticipated in the hot conditions, and track limits proved tricky too — Lawson even had an initial lap time deleted for exceeding them during FP1. Still, the team expects the rubber to settle down as the track rubbers in over the weekend. Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane confirmed the new parts are performing as expected across both cars, noting that overnight setup adjustments will focus on balance.
Over on the other side of the garage, Arvid Lindblad opened strongly with ninth in the first session before slipping to 13th in FP2 after battling to find a rhythm on the soft compound. “Our pace on the short runs has been good, but we still have some work to do on the long runs,” Lindblad said. To make matters spicier, Lindblad is carrying a five-place grid penalty for taking a fresh internal combustion engine, though Permane made it clear the sanction won't change their approach to qualifying.
With the final practice session scheduled for 12.30pm local time on Saturday and qualifying following at 4pm, Lawson has his sights firmly locked on a Q3 appearance.
