How Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls laps in Barcelona stacked up against Liam Lawson’s

Arvid Lindblad completed 120 laps in his first official appearance as a Racing Bulls Formula 1 driver, the only rookie on this year’s grid.

Liam Lawson had driven the VCARB03 on the first day of testing, while Racing Bulls chose not to take part in Tuesday’s weather-affected session. They will have another opportunity to run later in the week.

Lindblad was seventh quickest out of the eight drivers who hit the track on Wednesday, but getting nearly two Grand Prix distances under his belt was far more valuable than lap times at this stage.

Following an error during Racing Bulls’ shakedown at Imola that left him needing a car recovery, Lindblad will be pleased with how smoothly things went in Barcelona. The session should help settle any early nerves and give him a bit more confidence heading into what will be a challenging debut season.

Arvid Lindblad faster than Liam Lawson after Barcelona test laps

Leaving aside newcomers Cadillac, only two teams have changed driver line-ups for 2026: Red Bull, who promoted Isack Hadjar and dropped Yuki Tsunoda, and Racing Bulls, who turned to Lindblad after Hadjar’s exit.

It’s early days, but there will be pressure on Lawson to outperform Lindblad if he wants to secure his future. At the same time, the rookie will need to make a strong impression quickly to catch the eye of Red Bull’s decision-makers.

On paper, it was a clear advantage for Lindblad. He set a best lap of 1:19.420 compared to Lawson’s 1:21.513 from Monday and logged 32 more laps overall – though some of that difference can be chalked up to the team moving beyond their early system checks.

Kimi Antonelli clocked the quickest time of testing overall on Wednesday, suggesting teams are starting to ramp things up. While conditions were similar between days one and three at Barcelona, they weren’t identical.

Lindblad seemed to be working through a different plan than Lawson in this session – understandable given that he has more ground to cover across four and a half days in the car this winter.

Lindblad was working through his own programme during this session – understandable since he has more ground to cover over his limited time in the car before pre-season begins in February.

Lindblad’s Red Flag Incident During Shakedown

There was a minor hiccup for Lindblad on Wednesday when he came to a stop on track, briefly halting the session. Footage posted online showed him moving slowly around the circuit before coming to a halt.

Racing Bulls haven’t disclosed what caused the stoppage, though given the nature of pre-season testing, that isn’t unusual. Whatever the issue was, it didn’t appear to be serious since he managed to complete 120 laps by the end of the day.

The new Red Bull power unit has generally run smoothly in early testing. Hadjar triggered red flags on Tuesday, but that incident came after a crash in wet conditions.

Haas’ Oliver Bearman and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg both had problems on Wednesday as well. While Hulkenberg managed to get back out for 68 laps, Bearman’s day was more limited, with only 42 laps completed.