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Hadjar still out for Italian GP, Lawson and Tsunoda retain drives
Isack Hadjar will miss the Italian Grand Prix as he continues his recovery from a fractured wrist, with Liam Lawson again substituting at Red Bull.
The Frenchman injured his wrist while boxing as part of his training in the August break, ruling him out of the previous race in the Netherlands. Lawson qualified eighth – one place behind teammate Max Verstappen – and finished seventh as Verstappen crashed out of his home race, and although Red Bull says Hadjar “continues to make encouraging progress”, Lawson will again drive at Monza.
“The team is closely monitoring [Hadjar’s] rehabilitation and will take no unnecessary risks with his return to competition and wishes him a speedy recovery,” a Red Bull statement read.
“It’s good to hear Isack is recovering well and is back in the car soon, but it’s great to have another weekend with the team,” Lawson added. “Zandvoort gave me a really useful first reference in the car, and having a full Sprint weekend behind me means I’m coming into Monza with a much better understanding of the car and what I need from it.
“It’s a completely different track, and there’ll be new challenges, but I’m looking forward to building on the last weekend with the team and seeing what we can do.”
With Lawson remaining at Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda will continue to substitute for the New Zealander at Racing Bulls, having finished 11th at Zandvoort. There will also be FP1 changes as Ayumu Iwasa drives Max Verstappen’s car in practice on Friday.
Monza will form the first part of a double-header of races that includes the new street circuit at Madrid next weekend, creating the possibility that Hadjar will miss both of the final two European rounds. With multiple drivers under contract, Red Bull can wait to make a decision in the middle of next week prior to the Madrid race.
The driver confirmation comes after Red Bull also announced a new hire on Tuesday, with former Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough set to join as head of racing in 2027.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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