The New Zealander ended opening practice in 11th before improving to 10th in FP2, completing a positive day for a team that placed both cars inside the top 10 during the second session.
Lawson recorded a best time of 1m47.434s in FP2, leaving him 1.490s behind pace setter Kimi Antonelli and just 0.140s away from teammate Arvid Lindblad in ninth.
“We’ve had a good Friday with both cars in the top 10,” Lawson said.
“Spa feels quite different this year compared to previous years, so we’ve been focused on optimising the car and understanding the best way to manage our battery and energy deployment.
“We’ll work on that overnight and hopefully come back stronger tomorrow.”
Lawson said Racing Bulls had established a competitive foundation but still had areas to improve before qualifying.
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“The car has been performing well so far,” he said.
Lawson completed 24 laps in FP1 and produced a 1m48.432s, narrowly missing the top 10 after finishing 0.026s behind Gabriel Bortoleto.
He made further progress during the second session, although two red flags prevented teams from completing all of their planned running.
The first stoppage was caused by gravel left on the circuit after Max Verstappen ran wide at Stavelot, while a heavy crash for Pierre Gasly at the Fagnes chicane brought out another red flag late in the hour.
The session resumed with only two minutes remaining, allowing drivers to complete practice starts but leaving Racing Bulls with limited information from its planned longer runs.
Lawson and Lindblad also followed slightly different run plans during FP2, with Lindblad completing part of his running on the medium tyre while Lawson moved earlier onto the soft compound for his qualifying simulation.
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Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane said the car had performed particularly well on the medium tyre but had not made the same step when fitted with the softer compound.
“It’s been a positive first day on track here in Spa,” Permane said.
“We’ve introduced a decent upgrade package on both cars, including a revised rear wing, front brake drum and a redesigned engine cover.
“Arvid has a little bit extra with the cooling package, which is looking strong too. The car is working extremely well on the Medium tyre, but not quite so well on the soft.
“As such, our focus tonight will be to extract more pace on the soft tyre ahead of qualifying tomorrow afternoon.”
Lindblad finished ninth in both sessions, setting a 1m48.234s in FP1 before improving to a 1m47.294s during the afternoon.
The rookie was pleased with the baseline provided by Racing Bulls but agreed more performance needed to be found from the soft tyre before qualifying.
“Overall, it’s been a decent first day here in Spa,” Lindblad said.
“Once again, the team has given us a car with a strong baseline, which allowed us to start the weekend well. There are still a few areas that we’ll have to analyse overnight, but it’s been encouraging.
“The main focus will be on extracting a bit more performance on the soft tyre, as I wasn’t able to make as much of a step as I would’ve liked today.”
Permane said Racing Bulls had collected enough information to continue refining the package overnight, with improving its soft-tyre performance the main priority before FP3.
“We’ve collected plenty of data which we’ll be analysing in order to make the necessary improvements ahead of FP3 tomorrow,” he said.
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