Rain forecast complicates Lawson's Racing Bulls set-up rethink

Lawson said Racing Bulls' FP2 set-up experiment left the car with too much understeer as the track cooled, and expects the team to move back towards its FP1 configuration. The rain forecast for Sunday's race makes that reset harder: drivers must carry the set-up used in qualifying into the grand prix.

Lawson finished Friday's first practice 10th, then slipped to 13th in FP2, behind team-mate Arvid Lindblad, as Racing Bulls tried a different set-up direction on the VCARB03. He said the team was surprised by how much the changes affected the car, especially as track temperatures fell. Lawson described the FP2 balance as “probably one of the worst balances we've had this season, or at least in the recent races in FP2”.

Lawson said Racing Bulls would probably go back on the FP2 changes and try to start Saturday's FP3 with something similar to its FP1 set-up. He added that the team could not make a drastic change, because the car still had to work in the rain.

The short laps made it difficult to prepare the tyres for Turn 1, Lawson said. Traffic in the pit lane or on track could also affect Turn 1 in Q1, when all drivers would be out together.