Lawson sat out the opening hour at the Red Bull Ring as Japanese driver Ayumu Iwasa completed one of Racing Bulls’ mandatory rookie practice runs in his car.
That left the New Zealander with only FP2 to get up to speed, but he completed 34 laps and set a best time of 1:08.235 to end the session ninth fastest.
“A solid afternoon overall,” he said.
“I missed FP1 this morning, so I had a bit of catching up to do in FP2, but the car felt like it was in a good place and that made it pretty easy to get back into the groove.
“There’s still plenty of work to do heading into tomorrow. It’s incredibly close in the midfield, so we’ll need to stay on top of everything and make sure we keep finding those small improvements.
“So far, we’ve got a decent package, and I’m looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.”
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Racing Bulls used Iwasa’s FP1 outing to complete aero work before carrying that configuration across both cars for the afternoon session.
Team principal Alan Permane said the early investigation had given the squad a useful direction, while also praising Lawson for settling quickly despite missing the first hour of running.
“A good day for us. We had Ayumu in the car for Liam during FP1 who did a great job,” Permane said.
“Starting with an aero investigation, which proved positive and we carried the configuration through to FP2 on both cars.
“Liam and Arvid [Lindblad] were both happy with the car this afternoon, we had decent balance and were able to work through our program without any issues.
“Arvid continues to grow in confidence, especially now that we’re on tracks he knows well. He should be able to step up each weekend, and we’re already starting to see that in him.
“Liam also did a great job out there despite missing FP1 this morning, he was up to speed straight away. We still have a bit of work to do on our braking, which is where we feel our main weakness lies, so that’s our focus overnight.
“Overall, we’re much happier with our long-run pace here than we were in Barcelona, and we’ve made a step forward.”
The result capped a strong start to the weekend for Racing Bulls, with Lawson inside the top 10 despite his reduced running and Lindblad also showing pace across Friday, finishing sixth in FP1 and 12th in FP2.
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