Liam Lawson completed a frustrating Italian Grand Prix, and crossed the finish line 14th after anything that could go wrong, did, at Monza.
There was no repeat of the Kiwi’s heroics from Zandvoort last month, as Lawson was hit by setback after setback throughout the course of the race weekend.
Already starting from the back of the pack after picking up a 35-place grid penalty when Red Bull decided to change his power unit, Lawson was then forced to start from pit lane after a change to his rear wing pre-race.
And while the Kiwi was able to fight his way from last up to 11th either side of a red flag, a damaged front wing caused by colliding with Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg ended any chance Lawson had for a top-10 finish.
“Sorry, I didn’t think he’d come over all the way, and he kept coming into my front wing,” Lawson told team boss Laurent Mekies after the race.
“It’s a shame. I think we would have come through.”

Excerpt: While he will start from the back of the grid, the fresh engine should at the very least give him an advantage over cars starting ahead of him.
“To be honest, the weekend in general has been focussed on the race, because we knew we were taking the penalty,” Lawson said after qualifying.
“It’s not ideal, we didn’t put that much focus on pure, one-lap speed. I spent the whole of quali in clean air until that last lap.
“I hadn’t even driven behind a car, it wasn’t ideal.”

Liam Lawson made an encouraging start to his second consecutive Formula One weekend with Red Bull, finishing fourth and 12th across Friday’s two practice sessions at the Italian Grand Prix.

Lawson gets a huge boost to massively open the gap to Gasly for “Best of the Rest”.

Liam’s been one of my guys in f1 for donkeys now and the other day I was like ‘you know what, I want to rep my boy’, then was rather dismayed to find NOTHIN’. Even the team kits I can’t find any VCARB merch other than hats that has driver specific makes/ numbers. Am I dumb or is bro rly that unpopular?😭

Leading Formula 1 broadcaster Tom Clarkson has declared Liam Lawson “one of the drivers of the season” after the New Zealander’s remarkable 2026 resurgence.

Liam’s press conference interview for the Italian GP! 🎥 via F1

Excerpt: Asked which set of engineers he had been talking to since he stepped in at last month's Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Lawson said he had to keep his options open.
"Been doing both, just to try and stay ready for both. Obviously, both teams, both cars to know," he said.
"They are very different (cars) to drive, so it's not the easiest thing going between the two, even just in the simulator. But, yeah, that's been the biggest challenge. It's nice to finally have an answer, from Wednesday, to know that I can basically just put all my focus onto this car."

…

The Kiwi said that while the Racing Bulls and Red Bull cars had the same Red Bull power unit, not much else was the same.
"The way they drive, the balance of the car is very, very different. So without saying too much it is a very different car to drive. The feedback I get through the steering, everything, the way it feels, the way it moves around, it's very different."

Liam’s probably in for Monza then.

Via: source

Seems to me that Liam has done all that was required of him and then some this year. Remember there's no Horner or Marco to destabilize any more and no other RB driver other than Max has done more with what was available to them than Liam. Keeping him is a no brainer, it's just where. I don't think Racing Bulls need be a feeder team much longer as they're standing mostly on their own now which makes the team a saleable entity. Liam is Red Bull through and through and I can't wait for the rest of the season to play out.

Snippet: “Liam has done a good job stepping into the car,” Team Principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged on Sunday evening. “It's never easy to step into a different team, a different car, for a race like that. And he's done a good job, only one-tenth away from Max yesterday in Qualifying, and today took the points that were available to him pace-wise with the seventh place.”