Racing Bulls left Barcelona with both cars in the points, but Alan Permane’s reaction said more than the scoreboard.
Liam Lawson finished eighth and Arvid Lindblad ninth at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, a result that should have looked like another clean step in the team’s climb through Formula 1’s midfield. Instead, the frustration was obvious: Alpine still left Spain with the sharper race execution, the stronger haul and a 16-point cushion in the fight for fifth.
It gives Racing Bulls a useful but uncomfortable storyline before Austria. The car is clearly no longer a one-circuit threat, but Barcelona also showed how quickly a midfield weekend can swing when strategy windows, traffic and execution do not line up.
Points were not enough
Permane admitted to Formula1.com that Racing Bulls had “mixed feelings” after a race in which both cars scored but neither could hold Alpine back. Gasly’s Virtual Safety Car stop helped him jump Lawson, while Franco Colapinto also moved ahead before a penalty dropped him behind the Racing Bulls pair.
That was the sting. Racing Bulls had shown enough practice pace to believe they could attack Alpine directly, yet Sunday became more about damage limitation than taking control of the midfield. It was a very different kind of Barcelona story to Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari breakthrough at the front, but the lesson was just as sharp: opportunity only matters if the race falls into your hands.
The same midfield squeeze also framed Haas’ Austria reset after its Barcelona slump and Aston Martin’s upgrade gamble, two reminders that this part of the grid is now moving too quickly for quiet weekends to pass unnoticed.
Austria becomes the proof point
Lawson has now become a reliable points threat again, while Lindblad’s recovery to ninth from 11th on the grid reinforced the rookie’s growing composure. The wider picture is encouraging too. Racing Bulls had already signalled its intent with back-to-back upgrade packages earlier in the season, and Barcelona suggested that work is beginning to travel.
But Alpine’s week was still better. Gasly’s Monaco podium reinstatement, covered in detail after Alpine’s successful right of review, has transformed the points picture around this scrap. Barcelona then added another reminder that Gasly remains one of the most efficient midfield operators on the grid when there is even half a chance to steal a result.
That is why the Red Bull Ring matters. It is a short, sharp lap where qualifying margins will be tight and the Racing Bulls package should have another chance to prove its high-speed progress is real. Double points in Spain were useful. Beating Alpine on the road in Austria would be a statement.
