Liam Lawson delivers encouraging Racing Bulls update as 'strong' area identified

Liam Lawson has highlighted the "strong" reliability of the new Racing Bulls car, after it completed over 1,000 laps in F1 pre-season.

The Faenza-based squad clocked in 1,052 laps across the private shakedown in Barcelona and the six total days of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, putting the team fifth of 11. The only midfield outfit that managed more was Haas.

Whilst the New Zealander contributed 488 of those laps, rookie team-mate Arvid Lindblad was second on the lap count board, with 654.

It underlines how dependable the VCARB 03 is proving to be, having fared considerably better than its sister Red Bull car.

Although some of the power unit-related issues of the RB22 will also be a concern for Racing Bulls, Lawson shared his positivity after the final three days of running in Sakhir.

"It's been a really encouraging week, learning new things about the car every day," the 24-year-old said after the test.

"This season's testing has proved to be more important than any other year, so it's great to see the progress we've made in such a short space of time."

With both the power unit and chassis side of the F1 regulations being overhauled, each team faced a daunting task over the nine days of pre-season running.

However, Lawson is confident Racing Bulls has achieved the primary objective, and can now turn its attention to refining its package ahead of the campaign-opening Australian Grand Prix.

He added: "It's been a very big challenge, but reliability has been strong, so we feel prepared as a team to bring our package to Melbourne."