Lawson's Monza Recall as Hadjar Focuses on Recovery

Red Bull has decided caution beats romance at Monza. Isack Hadjar will sit out a second consecutive Formula 1 weekend, with Liam Lawson again stepping into the RB22 for the Italian Grand Prix.

Hadjar fractured his wrist ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort and, despite encouraging signs in his rehabilitation, the team has opted not to rush him back. The Frenchman has even turned to someone who knows all about the dangers of impatience: MotoGP great Marc Marquez, whose 2020 arm injury and attempted early return reshaped his career.

Red Bull made its stance clear. The team is “closely monitoring” Hadjar’s recovery and, despite “encouraging progress”, insists it “will take no unnecessary risks with his return”. In a season where every race seat carries weight, they are choosing the long game.

That opens the door again for Lawson, whose first outing in Zandvoort was quietly impressive. Thrown into a sprint weekend in changeable conditions, the New Zealander handled the RB22 with composure and finished seventh in the grand prix, showing enough pace and race craft to justify another shot.

“It’s good to hear Isack is recovering well and is back in the car soon, but it’s great to have another weekend with the team,” Lawson said. Zandvoort, he explained, has given him a crucial baseline. “Zandvoort gave me a really useful first reference in the car, and having a full sprint weekend behind me means I’m coming into Monza with a much better understanding of the car and what I need from it.”

This time, there are no first-day nerves, no unknowns about the cockpit or procedures. Lawson will run the full weekend schedule at Monza, with a clearer idea of how to extract performance over one lap and across a race distance.

There is another twist to Red Bull’s plans. As part of the team’s obligation to field rookies in free practice across the season, Max Verstappen will hand his RB22 to Ayumu Iwasa for one of the sessions. The Japanese driver gets a coveted taste of front-running machinery, while Lawson shoulders the main workload in the sister car.

The domino effect continues down the garage. Just as at Zandvoort, Yuki Tsunoda will step back into his usual Racing Bulls seat, with Lawson vacating that role to focus fully on his Red Bull duties.

Monza, with its long straights, heavy braking zones and unforgiving spotlight, has exposed many stand-ins over the years. Lawson arrives better prepared, sharper, and with one solid weekend already in his pocket. Hadjar, meanwhile, waits for his own chance to resume – on a timeline dictated not by emotion, but by the hard lessons of others who tried to come back too soon.