Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane feels the “numbers look encouraging” after Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad used their upgrades at the 2026 F1 United States GP.

The Faenza natives were one of a handful of teams to reveal their latest design concepts this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas in round 18/23 of the season. Racing Bulls have put a new front wing, rear wing, floor and bargeboards on the VCARB 03 as part of a large update.

Racing Bulls have announced that their four listed updates at the United States GP are all for performance gains, as the squad strive to further secure their fifth-place in the constructors’ standings. Lawson also sits ninth in the drivers’ standings as the best non-top four team star.

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Racing Bulls are ‘encouraged’ by Liam Lawson’s United States GP data with their upgrades

It was expected ahead of the event that Racing Bulls would bring a new floor, sidepod and engine cover to COTA, which they added to with a new floor. Their front wing update has a modified endplate, and Racing Bulls have modified the camber and chord of the rear wing.

Racing Bulls have also modified the shoulder and undercut of their sidepods at the United States GP, along with overhauling the floor on the VCARB 03 with a series of changes made to the leading edge and bargeboards. Their new floor is designed to improve the airflow to increase the downforce generated from a key part of the car at a demanding circuit layout.

Lawson and Lindblad got to grips with Racing Bulls’ upgrades at the United States GP during practice on Friday, and the former finished FP2 in sixth place. The Kiwi pipped McLaren pair Lando Norris, who had a tough time in FP2 at COTA, by 0.042s and Oscar Piastri by 0.056s.

Team principal Permane was especially pleased with the data that Lawson and Lindblad gave Racing Bulls with their upgrades during practice at the United States GP on Friday. He feels it was a positive first foray for their updates on track, and they worked as their data suggested.

Permane noted, via Speedcafe: “We have a new aero package on the car, comprising a new floor, bodywork and front and rear wings on both cars, which is working as expected.

“We can make some improvements to the balance of both cars overnight, but the numbers look encouraging overall.”

Despite Lawson coming sixth as Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc set the pace during FP2 at the United States GP, the Kiwi felt Racing Bulls still had “more to unlock” with their updates. The 24-year-old believes Friday represented a positive start for the Faenza squad, but they have more room to improve before qualifying at COTA by further refining the VCARB 03’s set-up.

“I enjoyed being on track today,” Lawson said. “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.”

Lindblad finishing the second practice session down in only 13th place helped to prove that Racing Bulls still have more time to find with their upgraded car at the United States GP. He set a personal-best lap time around COTA of 1:36.959, compared to Lawson’s 1:36.331 lap.

But it must also be noted that this weekend marks Lindblad’s first-ever time at COTA. The Briton never raced at the circuit in Austin, Texas during his junior formula career, and he is the only rookie on F1’s 2026 grid, whereas Lawson raced at COTA in 2024 and 2025 during F1’s ground-effect era. Lawson achieved P9 in the 2024 United States GP and P11 in 2025.

So, Lindblad setting slower lap times than Lawson during FP2 should be expected, although his personal-best sector times across the three splits were comparable (and also faster than his teammate in sector one). Lindblad set sector times of 25.872s, 38.302s and 32.395s in FP2, compared to Lawson setting times of 25.910s, 38.137s and 32.180s across the sectors.