In for Isack Hadjar at Red Bull Racing once again, Liam Lawson finished the 2026 F1 Italian GP in P14 after front wing damage hurt his Sunday.
It had been a great first three laps for the New Zealander, moving up to P15 after starting in pit lane because of engine component penalties and set-up tweaks before the race.
Once the race resumed, he made up a further four spots to P11 by lap 8. However, he had sustained front wing damage when Nico Hülkenberg squeezed him on the approach to turn 1 at the restart. It forced him to pit for a new one on lap 12 as the damage was too significant, coming out well off the back.
He would pass the Cadillacs, Haas’ and Stroll to finish P14, ending up 17s away from the points. As there was a free tyre change under red flag conditions, many did not stop in the race itself.
Liam Lawson on a mixed bag at the 2026 F1 Italian GP
Speaking in the print media pen, the 24-year-old discussed his mega start, as well as the unfortunate moment on the restart.
The right-hand side of his front wing was damaged as the German moved left and across towards him. He had his right front wheel alongside the left rear wheel of the Audi.
“Yep, I made a good first lap from the pit lane, made up quite a few places.
“And then the restart, I lost part of my front wing with Nico. I had to box for a new one and lost like 30 seconds.
“It’s a shame. We had very good speed through the race.
“But with the way the strategy was, obviously nobody really boxed. So we just had too much time to make up.”
Asked about passing, the New Zealander mentioned the first lap and later in the race when he caught the slower [midfield] cars.
”First lap, but after that I was able to pass a few towards the end.
“Then I’m trying to pass cars [Sainz] that boxed under the VSC and they have such newer tyres.
“It’s just an average day, honestly.”
On the two clashes with Nico Hülkenberg in Monza F1 race
Speaking about the turn 4 incident on lap 12 that the stewards investigated but handed out no penalty, the regular 2026 Racing Bulls driver admitted he had no right mirror, hence he may have squeezed the German too much.
That corner is a hot-spot for close shaves or contact, as Leclerc (2019) and Hamilton (2023) have shown with defensive moves or misjudgements previously.
“Probably exactly what he did to me, I probably did to him.
“I lost my mirror, so I couldn’t see on the right-hand side of my car. If I squeezed him, which maybe I did, I didn’t mean to.
“But I’m guessing he obviously wouldn’t have meant to do it to me either.
“But it broke my front wing [the restart incident] and I had to box for a new one.”
A weekend of frustration for Liam Lawson
Having missed out on Q3 on Saturday, Lawson looked set for a comeback on Sunday to the points in the 2026 F1 Italian GP until the contact with his German rival.
He was much happier with his RB22 on Sunday after difficulties on Saturday.
“I mean I was taking the engine penalty the whole time, so we really focused on long runs. Obviously it’s not great, not ideal taking an engine.
“But I think we had the speed to come through, and we’d done all the work to have a good race car, which we did.
“It’s just unfortunate. I think we had some issues yesterday, which we were able to resolve today for the race, and the car was much better.
“But trying to make it 30 seconds is very tough.”
Asked where he felt he could have finished in the 2026 F1 Italian GP without the incident, Liam Lawson was confident of a strong result in his Red Bull.
“We were quick enough to come right through, so probably well in the points.”
