Red Bull Confirms Lawson for Monza as Hadjar Recovers

Red Bull are sticking with the man in form. Liam Lawson will partner Max Verstappen again at the Italian Grand Prix, with the team confirming the New Zealander will stand in for the recovering Isack Hadjar for a second consecutive weekend.

Lawson impressed at Zandvoort, thrown into the deep end and emerging with a composed drive to seventh place and valuable points for the Milton Keynes outfit. Now he gets another shot, this time at Monza, where the margins are brutal and the slipstream game unforgiving.

Hadjar remains sidelined as he continues to heal from the wrist injury he picked up over the summer break. Red Bull’s stance is clear: no rush, no gamble.

“Liam will drive alongside Max at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, while Isack continues to make encouraging progress following the wrist injury sustained during the summer break,” the team said in a statement. “The team is closely monitoring his rehabilitation and will take no unnecessary risks with his return to competition and wishes him a speedy recovery.”

Lawson, who has had to get up to speed with the RB22 in a compressed timeframe, admitted Zandvoort was a steep learning curve, but the outcome left him buoyant.

“It's been a good weekend,” he said after the race. “It was good to extract everything out of Quali. It's been tough to try and get my head around this car in a short space of time, but I've enjoyed it.”

Monza will test that adaptation even more. High-speed corners, heavy braking zones, relentless pressure. Another strong showing and the 22-year-old strengthens his case in a driver market that never really sleeps.

Tsunoda back in the shop window

While Lawson steps up again at Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda will keep hold of the Racing Bulls seat for a second straight weekend. The Japanese driver, who lost his full-time place on the grid at the end of 2025, has been thrown a timely chance to remind the paddock of his speed and racecraft.

“Yuki will drive for the team at the Italian GP this weekend,” Racing Bulls confirmed on social media, a simple line that carries plenty of weight for a driver fighting to stay relevant in the conversation.

Tsunoda’s return at the Dutch Grand Prix almost yielded points. He finished 11th, just one spot shy of the top 10, but his tone afterwards was upbeat.

“I definitely enjoyed it overall, and yeah, I think I gave it 100%, as much as I can,” the 26-year-old said. “I think I did pretty okay.”

“Pretty okay” at Zandvoort now has to become something more at Monza. With another full race weekend in the car, Tsunoda walks into the Temple of Speed with rhythm, track time and a clear objective: turn opportunity into results.

Iwasa steps into Verstappen’s car

There will be another fresh face in Red Bull colours on Friday. Ayumu Iwasa is set to take over Verstappen’s car for Free Practice 1, a significant milestone for the Japanese driver as he continues his own climb through the ranks.

FP1 outings at Monza are not gentle introductions. Traffic, evolving grip, and the constant demand to stay out of trouble while delivering useful data for the team make it a high-pressure hour. For Iwasa, it is exactly the kind of test he needs.

So Red Bull arrive in Italy with Verstappen anchored at the centre, Lawson earning another shot alongside him, Tsunoda pushing to turn a recall into something more permanent, and Iwasa grabbing a rare window in a front-running car.

Monza has a habit of clarifying futures. This weekend, it might say plenty about three of them.