Liam Lawson Shows Promise at Monza After Productive First Day
Liam Lawson is not here to make up the numbers. Not at Zandvoort last week, and certainly not at Monza.
Back in the Red Bull for a second consecutive Grand Prix as stand-in for the injured Isack Hadjar, the New Zealander turned his first day at the Temple of Speed into something more than a simple audition. He turned it into a statement of intent.
Sharp in FP1, disciplined in FP2
Lawson opened his Italian Grand Prix weekend with a punchy FP1, clocking a 1m 23.433s to go fourth-fastest. On a circuit where experience and confidence under braking usually separate the front-runners from the rest, the 24-year-old looked immediately at ease.
The afternoon told a different story on the timesheets, but not in the garage. Red Bull shifted the programme in FP2, handing Lawson a workload built around race preparation rather than headline laps. After a brief short run, he settled into two long stints on the soft and hard compounds, trading glory runs for data.
He ended FP2 in 12th with a 1m 23.660s – only 0.283s shy of teammate Max Verstappen, who finished ninth. On paper, it’s a slide down the order. In reality, it underlined why Red Bull wanted him in the car again.
“It’s been, I would say, a productive day,” Lawson said afterwards. The words were calm. The driving was anything but conservative.
Building on Zandvoort, learning at speed
Lawson arrived in Italy on the back of a quietly impressive Dutch Grand Prix, where he converted his late call-up into seventh place at Zandvoort. That performance pushed Yuki Tsunoda across to Racing Bulls for this double stand-in weekend, while Hadjar continues to recover from a wrist injury that ruled him out of both races.
If Zandvoort was about survival and seizing an unexpected chance, Monza is about refinement. Lawson made it clear he is still piecing together the full picture of how to extract performance over a race distance in a Red Bull.
“I think we struggled more — I struggled more — at Zandvoort in the race than quali,” he admitted. “So I’ll try and learn what I can from it.”
Friday, then, was about exactly that: learning. Long runs, tyre behaviour, fuel loads, and the brutal honesty of Monza’s long straights, where any weakness in balance or drag is exposed instantly.
He described the day as “good learning” as he continued to get to grips with the car. That phrase tends to sound like a cliché. Watching the timing gaps to Verstappen shrink, it sounded more like a warning to the midfield.
Playing the Monza game: the tow
Monza is never just about raw pace. It’s about timing, trust, and the art of the slipstream. Get a tow right in qualifying and you gain tenths for free. Misjudge it, and a promising lap evaporates before Turn 1.
Friday’s running underlined that reality again, and Lawson knows it. Picking up a tow will be central to any hope of pushing the Red Bull higher up the grid when it matters.
“For sure, it’s something we’ll discuss, and we’ll come up with a plan,” he said, already looking ahead to qualifying. The subtext is clear: track position, traffic, and teamwork could define his weekend as much as tyre choice.
Ferrari delight, Mercedes response at the front
While Lawson quietly went about his work, the established heavyweights traded blows at the top of the times.
In FP1, Ferrari gave the tifosi exactly what they came for. Charles Leclerc lit up the session with a 1m 23.00s, fastest of all and enough to send a ripple of early optimism through the Monza grandstands.
George Russell then answered for Mercedes in FP2, dipping into the 1m 22s with a 1m 22.559s to set the pace in the cooler afternoon conditions. It was a reminder that, once fuel loads come down and engine modes wind up, the fight at the front could tighten quickly.
A window of opportunity
For Lawson, the picture is simpler. He has another weekend, another shot, and a car capable of running deep into the points if he nails Saturday and keeps his head on Monday.
Qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix will unfold in the early hours of Sunday morning (2am NZT), with the race set for Monday at 1am NZT. By then, the long runs from Friday will either look like the foundations of a breakout drive, or a missed opportunity.
Right now, Lawson is close to Verstappen on pace, growing in confidence, and learning fast. The question is no longer whether he belongs in Formula 1.
It’s how long teams can afford to ignore him.
