Liam Lawson has made a strong start to the United States Grand Prix weekend, finishing inside the top ten in both practice sessions at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
The Kiwi finished tenth in Free Practice 1 before improving to sixth in the second session, ahead of both McLaren drivers and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar. Racing Bulls has brought a significant upgrade package to Austin, with changes to the front and rear wings, floor and engine cover of the VCARB03.
The updates appear to be working well for Lawson, who completed 49 laps across Friday’s two sessions and recorded a best time of 1:36.331.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the opening session with a 1:36.052, just 0.084 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, while Lando Norris was third fastest for McLaren.
The session got underway in sunny conditions, with several drivers reporting difficulties with the circuit’s bumpy surface. Verstappen complained of an unusual feeling through the steering when turning left, while George Russell reported understeer in his Mercedes.
Leclerc was quickest during the early running on medium tyres, narrowly ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, before drivers began switching to soft tyres. The Ferrari driver improved his time to 1:36.052, which remained the benchmark for the rest of the session.
Verstappen briefly went faster with a 1:35.862, but the lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 19, dropping him back to second.
Track limits also caught out Lawson, who had a 1:37.048 lap deleted. The time would have put him ninth, but he instead finished tenth with a 1:37.309, 1.207 seconds off Leclerc.
Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad was ninth, while Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto impressed with the eighth-fastest time. Behind the leading three, Russell finished fourth ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli, Hamilton and Oscar Piastri.
Little changed in the closing stages as teams shifted focus to longer runs rather than outright lap times. Williams spent much of the session gathering aerodynamic data, leaving Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon towards the bottom of the timesheets.
Lawson improved noticeably in the second session, moving up to sixth with a 1:36.331, just over a second behind Leclerc.
Verstappen was quickest early on with a 1:36.581 on medium tyres, before Russell moved ahead as the times began to fall. The Red Bull driver soon reclaimed the top spot, while Norris couldn’t complete a clean flying lap after a moment of oversteer.
Several drivers continued to struggle with track limits, including Hamilton, Antonelli, Russell, and Hadjar, all of whom had times deleted.
Antonelli also reported a seat issue and returned to the pits, while Russell came under investigation after an incident that forced Leclerc off the circuit. No further action was taken.
Once drivers switched to soft tyres, Leclerc moved to the top with a 1:35.291, beating Antonelli by just 0.042 seconds. Verstappen finished third, followed by Hamilton and Russell. Lawson was sixth, ahead of Norris and Piastri in seventh and eighth, respectively.
Neither McLaren driver seemed particularly happy with their car’s handling, and Hadjar also had a difficult session, complaining about tyre degradation and losing lap time to track limits.
The Red Bull driver finished ninth, with Haas driver Ollie Bearman completing the top ten. Lindblad finished 13th in the second Racing Bulls, six tenths behind Lawson.
With around 20 minutes remaining, most teams focused on longer runs, leaving the order largely unchanged until the chequered flag. Lawson had a productive opening day, running on all three tyre compounds while Racing Bulls continued evaluating its latest upgrades.
His sixth-place finish in FP2 was particularly encouraging, although deleted lap times and interrupted qualifying simulations for several drivers shaped the final order.
Lawson also has a good record of enjoying the Austin circuit, having previously described it as his favourite track on the Formula 1 calendar. His teammate Lindblad will face a tougher race day, with the rookie set to serve a five-place grid penalty for exceeding his permitted number of internal combustion engines.
Meanwhile, Antonelli can secure his first Formula 1 World Championship this weekend if he extends his points advantage to at least 125. For Lawson, the focus now turns to qualifying, where he hopes to build on Friday’s pace and put himself in contention for another points finish.
United States Grand Prix qualifying begins at 10am Sunday (NZT).
Header Image: Chris Graythen/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool
