Isack Hadjar will miss a second consecutive Formula 1 weekend as he continues to recover from a wrist injury, leaving Liam Lawson alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull for the Italian Grand Prix.
Red Bull has confirmed that Hadjar will not race at Monza after giving him additional time to recover from the wrist injury that also forced him to miss the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
Lawson will therefore remain in the RB22 for a second consecutive weekend, while Yuki Tsunoda continues with Racing Bulls. Red Bull says Hadjar is making encouraging progress but has made clear that it will take no unnecessary risks with his return to competition. The team has not set a firm comeback date.
Hadjar’s Monza comeback will have to wait
Hadjar had hoped to return at Monza after sitting out Zandvoort, but the Italian Grand Prix has ultimately arrived too soon.
The Frenchman sustained the wrist injury during the summer break and has now been ruled out of two consecutive race weekends. Formula 1’s official confirmation says his rehabilitation will continue to be monitored and that Red Bull will not take unnecessary risks.
With Formula 1 heading to Madrid immediately after Monza, attention will inevitably turn to whether Hadjar can be cleared for the next round. However, Reuters also reports that no firm return date has been given, so Madrid should be treated as the next possible opportunity rather than a confirmed target.
That confirms the possibility Tech Torque Media highlighted in our earlier report on Hadjar’s potentially extended absence, when Monza remained uncertain rather than officially ruled out.
Lawson earns another weekend with Red Bull
For Lawson, Hadjar’s absence creates another unexpected opportunity with the senior Red Bull team.
The New Zealander was drafted in at short notice for Zandvoort and delivered an encouraging performance despite having limited time to adapt to the RB22.
Lawson qualified eighth, directly behind Verstappen in seventh. Formula 1’s official qualifying results show their best Q3 laps were separated by just 0.115 seconds, with Verstappen setting a 1:11.618 and Lawson a 1:11.733.
He then finished the Dutch Grand Prix seventh, scoring useful points for Red Bull on a weekend when Verstappen failed to finish.
Tech Torque Media covered Lawson’s unexpected Red Bull return at Zandvoort, but Monza presents a different challenge.
This time Lawson has the advantage of already having completed a full weekend in the car, while the Italian Grand Prix also features the normal three-practice format rather than the compressed Sprint schedule he faced in the Netherlands.
That should give him significantly more opportunity to work with Red Bull on set-up and build confidence before qualifying.
Tsunoda stays with Racing Bulls
The reshuffle also means Tsunoda continues as Racing Bulls’ stand-in while Lawson remains with Red Bull.
The Japanese driver returned to Racing Bulls at Zandvoort as Lawson moved across to the senior team and narrowly missed the points with an 11th-place finish.
He will remain with Racing Bulls at Monza, maintaining the same driver combinations used by the two Red Bull-owned teams in the Netherlands.
It provides useful continuity for both operations at a point when introducing another change would offer little benefit.
Monza is a very different test for Lawson
Lawson’s Zandvoort performance demonstrated that he could get reasonably close to Verstappen despite being dropped into unfamiliar machinery with little preparation.
Monza will provide a different measure.
Its long straights, heavy braking zones and extremely low-downforce configuration create one of the most specialised set-up requirements of the Formula 1 season.
As outlined in our 2026 Italian Grand Prix preview, outright efficiency, braking stability and confidence under reduced aerodynamic load will be crucial throughout the weekend.
Lawson therefore has a valuable opportunity: three practice sessions, recent RB22 experience and a circuit dramatically different from Zandvoort on which to show whether his encouraging first weekend can be repeated.
Tech Torque Verdict
Hadjar missing Monza is disappointing, but Red Bull has little reason to gamble with his recovery when it has a proven replacement available.
Lawson did everything reasonably expected of him at Zandvoort. Qualifying little more than a tenth behind Verstappen in Q3 and finishing seventh gave Red Bull confidence that it can allow Hadjar the recovery time he needs without dramatically compromising the second car.
Monza now becomes more than simply another substitute appearance for Lawson. With a full practice programme available and one Red Bull weekend already behind him, this is an opportunity to demonstrate what he can do with more conventional preparation.
For Hadjar, meanwhile, the sensible approach remains the same: return when the wrist is ready rather than when the calendar says he should.
