Juan Pablo Montoya Urges Red Bull to Trust Liam Lawson for Spanish Grand Prix
Juan Pablo Montoya has urged Red Bull to resist the temptation of a quick fix and keep faith with Liam Lawson for next week’s inaugural Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, warning that rushing Isack Hadjar back from injury would be a needless gamble.
Lawson was thrown into the deep end at Zandvoort. A late call-up for the Dutch Grand Prix after Hadjar damaged his wrist during the summer break, the New Zealander had just a single practice session to reacquaint himself with a Formula 1 car and a front-running environment. It should have been a damage-limitation exercise.
Instead, he went toe-to-toe with Max Verstappen in qualifying and then banked six valuable points with a composed run to seventh place.
That performance has earned him another outing at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza. For Montoya, speaking on F1 TV’s Weekend Warm-Up, that still shouldn’t be the end of the story.
He pointed to Yuki Tsunoda’s display for Racing Bulls as the template of what Red Bull should be rewarding.
“Yuki showed the pace he had in the race, passing people, the aggression,” Montoya said. “I think everything that you wanted to see out of a driver. If you're looking for drivers in F1, he delivered. He did the job. He didn't make mistakes. He didn't put a wheel wrong, and it was really good to see.”
That same clarity of thinking, Montoya argued, should now guide the Madrid decision.
“With Liam, if I were Red Bull, especially going into Madrid next week, I would go, ‘Hey, let's be smart. We're going to get a couple more weeks of recovery, and we'll prepare Liam properly for Madrid because it's a new track for everybody.’”
It is a simple equation. A brand-new circuit, the Madring, no historical data, no established reference points. Every driver starts from zero. In that scenario, continuity and fitness matter more than sentiment.
Lawson has already shown he can step in cold and deliver. Give him proper preparation, Montoya suggests, and Red Bull could unlock even more.
The wider numbers underline how high the bar is in 2025’s championship fight. Lawson sits ninth in the standings on 49 points, Hadjar one place ahead in eighth with 68. Verstappen, the benchmark inside the Red Bull camp, holds sixth with 112. Out in front, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli has torn clear on 242 points.
Red Bull, then, are not chasing a title with Lawson or Hadjar. They are shaping a driver roster for the long term while trying to maximise every weekend in a brutally competitive midfield.
Madrid offers a rare kind of test. A fresh layout, a fresh weekend, and a decision that will say a great deal about how Red Bull balance caution with ambition as the season tightens around them.
