Liam Lawson Approaches Verstappen Benchmark as Monza Decision Looms
Liam Lawson arrived at Zandvoort with a simple, brutal target: get within three-tenths of Max Verstappen in the same machinery. For a driver parachuted into Red Bull’s RB22 with no prior running, it sounded ambitious. Maybe even optimistic.
He got within 0.115s.
In a weekend packed with subplots, that slender gap might be the most telling number of all. It speaks to raw pace, rapid adaptation and a driver who, given a narrow window, squeezed almost everything from it.
Yet Lawson’s immediate future still hangs in the balance.
Hadjar fitness cloud keeps Monza seat in play
Between Zandvoort and Monza sits a week of uncertainty. No firm timeline, no clear answer. Isack Hadjar remains in a race of his own: a fitness battle to be ready for the Italian Grand Prix.
Multiple sources have told the Herald there are no guarantees either way. No quiet assurances behind the scenes, no locked-in plan. Red Bull and the wider operation will give the Frenchman as long as possible to prove he can take the start at Monza.
The range of scenarios on the table underlines how tight the call could be. One source even floated an extreme possibility: Hadjar could run in the first practice session on Friday, then step aside for Lawson if he’s later ruled unfit. That sort of mid-weekend swap would need the green light from the FIA, and would be highly unusual at this level. But it shows how finely balanced the situation is.
For Lawson, all he can do is keep driving – and keep impressing.
Mugello mileage as Lawson keeps sharpening
While the medical updates and internal deliberations continue, Lawson has been handed something every young driver craves: laps. Lots of them.
He climbed back into the RB22 at Mugello, joining McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the opening day of a Pirelli tyre test in Italy. No points, no trophies, no TV cameras cutting to the garage after every run. Just work.
The test served as a rolling laboratory for Pirelli, a long-range look at the tyre compounds that will form the backbone of the 2027 Formula One season. For Lawson, it doubled as priceless seat time in a front-running car.
He pounded out 116 laps around the sweeping Tuscan circuit – roughly two full race distances – before handing the Red Bull over to Racing Bulls reserve Ayumu Iwasa overnight. That sort of mileage doesn’t show up on any leaderboard, but it builds something more important for a driver in his position: trust. Trust from engineers. Trust from decision-makers. Trust that if the phone rings on a Thursday night, he’s ready.
All roads lead to Monza
The Italian Grand Prix weekend opens on September 4 (NZT), with the race set for September 7. Between now and then, the stopwatch and the medical reports will carry equal weight.
Lawson has already hit the benchmark he set himself against Verstappen. Hadjar is fighting to make the grid. The final call will say plenty about Red Bull’s risk tolerance and its faith in both young drivers.
At Monza, one of them will get the chance to turn this audition into something bigger.
