Piastri and Lawson's Crucial Tyre Test at Mugello
Under a Tuscan sun that scorched Mugello’s tarmac to 55°C, Oscar Piastri and Liam Lawson quietly went about work that could shape Formula 1’s future – even if the stopwatch wasn’t the star of the day.
This was Pirelli’s playground: a two-day, tyre-focused test built around the C1, C2 and C3 compounds, aimed squarely at its 2027 development programme. Lap times were a footnote. Mileage and data ruled.
Piastri grinds out McLaren mileage
Piastri handled McLaren duties on day one and delivered exactly what the team and Pirelli wanted: laps. Lots of them.
The Australian racked up 93 tours of Mugello, a hefty 488 kilometres, as he cycled through the three hardest compounds in Pirelli’s range. His best effort, a 1m21.358s, came amid a structured programme that blended shorter exploratory runs with more representative stints.
The day built towards a pair of 14-lap runs, a clear sign McLaren and Pirelli were leaning into consistency and degradation studies rather than headline-grabbing pace. In that heat, tyre life, behaviour under load and repeatability mattered far more than purple sectors.
For Piastri, it was another chance to log serious mileage in demanding conditions at a circuit that punishes any lapse in concentration. No trophies, no points – just the kind of hard, unseen work that underpins Sunday performances.
Lawson back in a Red Bull – and flat out
On the other side of the garage divide, Liam Lawson did what test drivers dream of: he drove. All day.
The New Zealander completed 116 laps and 608 kilometres for Red Bull, the heaviest workload of the pair. His programme leaned heavily on the C2 compound, with the team initially sending him out for repeated eight-lap runs before stretching the stints as the afternoon wore on.
Lawson’s quickest lap, a 1m22.297s, underscored the reality of the day: this was not about chasing McLaren’s time or lighting up timing screens. It was about giving Pirelli clean, comparable data on how the C2 behaves over varying stint lengths in brutal temperatures.
Even so, the context around Lawson made his presence at Mugello more than just another test outing. His return to a Red Bull cockpit came only days after he was thrown into the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, a late call-up when Isack Hadjar was ruled out with a wrist injury.
Lawson responded there with the kind of composure that keeps team bosses interested – qualifying eighth and finishing seventh, banking his first points as a Red Bull driver after a brief two-race spell with the team at the start of 2025. Mugello, then, felt like a continuation of a suddenly busy and important stretch in his career.
Hadjar’s fitness question lingers over Monza
Red Bull now waits on Hadjar’s condition ahead of the Italian Grand Prix. The team remains hopeful the Frenchman will be fit enough to return at Monza next weekend, but as of now there is no confirmation.
That uncertainty leaves the door ajar for Lawson. Another weekend in race trim at one of the calendar’s most iconic venues would be a significant opportunity, even if the team’s public stance is clear: Hadjar is the preferred starter if he’s ready.
What is certain is that Lawson has done everything asked of him in the last week – from scoring points under pressure at Zandvoort to grinding through a heavy test load in searing heat at Mugello.
Norris, Iwasa and Audi step in for day two
The test rolls on without Piastri and Lawson on Thursday.
McLaren hands the car to Lando Norris, giving the Briton his turn on the C1–C3 compounds, while Red Bull swaps Lawson for Ayumu Iwasa as the Japanese driver picks up the tyre-evaluation baton.
There is another subplot, too. Audi joins the programme on the second day, with Nico Hülkenberg scheduled to drive as the future entrant continues to lay foundations for its full-scale arrival.
Day one at Mugello will not be remembered for lap records or dramatic moments. It will be remembered for something subtler: two drivers quietly piling up kilometres in oppressive heat, serving the long game, while the immediate question hangs in the air.
When the lights go out at Monza, will it be Hadjar or Lawson in that Red Bull seat?
