Juan Pablo Montoya Urges Red Bull to Trust Liam Lawson for Madrid

Juan Pablo Montoya has urged Red Bull to resist the temptation of a quick fix and keep faith with Liam Lawson for Madrid, warning that rushing Isack Hadjar back could be a mistake with a brand-new circuit on the horizon.

The Colombian, never shy of a firm opinion, looked at Lawson’s late call-up at Zandvoort and saw enough to argue the New Zealander has earned more than a stopgap role.

Lawson seizes his chance

Lawson was drafted in at the eleventh hour for the Dutch Grand Prix after Hadjar picked up a wrist injury during the summer break. The reshuffle triggered a small chain reaction: reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda moved into Lawson’s Racing Bulls seat alongside Arvid Lindblad, while Lawson stepped up to partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull.

On paper, that kind of disruption should have hurt. One practice session. Minimal preparation. A teammate in Verstappen who usually buries whoever lines up on the other side of the garage.

Instead, Lawson ran him close in qualifying and then turned that promise into points, banking six with a composed seventh-place finish. No drama, no rash lunges, just clean execution under pressure.

He stays in the car again this weekend at Monza, and for Montoya, that continuity should not stop there.

Montoya’s message: don’t rush Hadjar

Speaking on F1 TV’s Weekend Warm-Up, Montoya highlighted Tsunoda’s display in the Racing Bulls as further proof that Red Bull’s wider driver pool is delivering.

“Yuki showed the pace he had in the race, passing people, the aggression. 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,” he said.

That, in Montoya’s eyes, gives Red Bull the luxury of patience with Hadjar and the freedom to plan Madrid around Lawson.

“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.'”

A new venue, the Madring, levels the field. No historic data. No decade-long bank of tricks. For Montoya, it’s exactly the kind of weekend where you want a fit driver and a calm head, not someone climbing back into the cockpit half-ready just to reclaim a seat.

A tight internal battle, a runaway leader

The numbers underline how finely balanced Red Bull’s internal situation is.

Lawson sits ninth in the drivers’ standings on 49 points. Hadjar, despite the injury lay-off, holds eighth with 68. Verstappen, unusually on the back foot in this title race, is only sixth with 112.

Up the road, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli is in a different universe, leading the championship on 242 points and setting the pace that everyone else is scrambling to match.

Red Bull’s fight, for now, is less about the title and more about maximising every weekend, every line-up call, every marginal gain. That’s where Montoya believes the Madrid decision becomes critical.

Madrid’s Madring: a fresh test

From 11–13 September, Formula 1 will roll into Madrid for the first Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit. No team has a comfort zone there. No driver has a favourite corner yet.

For Red Bull, the question is simple but loaded: stick with the in-form stand-in who has already shown he can jump in cold and deliver, or rush their rising star back in time for a circuit that gives nobody a head start?

Montoya has nailed his colours to the mast. Lawson, he says, deserves Madrid. The rest is up to Red Bull – and the clock on Hadjar’s recovery.