Liam Lawson to Drive Alongside Max Verstappen at Monza

Liam Lawson will stay in the top seat alongside Max Verstappen for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, with Red Bull confirming overnight that Isack Hadjar has not recovered in time from his wrist injury.

The call locks in an unchanged makeshift line-up for a second straight race weekend. Lawson remains promoted to Red Bull, while Yuki Tsunoda gets another outing with Racing Bulls in Lawson’s usual car.

Red Bull framed the decision as a medical one, not a sporting 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 on social media, adding that it is “closely monitoring his rehabilitation” and “will take no unnecessary risks with his return to competition.”

Hadjar, who had been openly targeting a comeback for Sunday’s race, will instead sit out a second event. There is still no indication from the team whether he will be fit for next week’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The setback extends a frustrating spell for the 19-year-old. He injured his wrist just days before last month’s Dutch Grand Prix, reportedly during a boxing workout, and spent his home race on the sidelines wearing a brace. In a Red Bull video from Zandvoort, he cut a restless figure in the paddock.

“It’s my first injury ever in my whole existence, career, whatever. It’s weird to be on the bench and I’m not happy about it,” Hadjar said then. “It’s not swollen, which is a good sign. It’s healing fast. Every day I have a bit more mobility and I’m hopeful for Monza.”

That hope has now gone, at least for this weekend.

Lawson, by contrast, arrives in Italy with momentum. Thrown back into the senior Red Bull seat at Zandvoort, the New Zealander delivered a composed drive to seventh, underlining the form that has made this his strongest Formula 1 season to date. He sits ninth in the championship, one place behind Hadjar, and already has almost double the points tally of Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad.

Those numbers have forced Red Bull to look again at a driver it had already moved on from once. Lawson was dropped by the senior team after just two races in 2025, but his performances this year — capped by that assured return in the Netherlands — have reopened the door and kept it wedged firmly ajar.

Tsunoda, back on the grid after his own Red Bull exit in December, quietly banked 11th place on his F1 return at Zandvoort. He now gets another chance to re-establish himself with Racing Bulls while Lawson continues his unexpected second act in Red Bull colours.

Monza, with its flat-out straights and unforgiving spotlight, will tell plenty about how long that second act can run.