Liam Lawson is set to start from the back of the grid at the Italian Grand Prix after Red Bull opted to change several engine components on his RB22. The decision triggers a grid penalty, adding further pressure on the New Zealander in his second consecutive weekend with the factory team.
Lawson was previously eliminated in Q2 after qualifying 14th. However, he admitted he had known about the impending penalty from the start, so the team's focus was more on race preparation rather than extracting pure one-lap pace.
Engine Dilemma and Race Strategy
Changing engine components beyond the regulated allocation is often a team's choice when facing circuits that demand high reliability, such as Monza. For Red Bull, this move is a significant gamble to secure Sunday's performance.
Lawson acknowledged that the penalty had altered his team's approach throughout the weekend. "The weekend in general has been focused very much on the race anyway because we knew we were taking the penalty," he said. "So it's not ideal. We didn't really put that much focus on just the pure one-lap speed."
Piastri Incident Complicates Matters
Lawson's chances of reaching Q3 were further diminished when he was impeded by Oscar Piastri, who emerged from the pit lane while Lawson was on his final fast lap. This incident sparked immediate frustration from Lawson, voiced over the team radio.
The stewards handed Piastri a three-place grid penalty, dropping the McLaren driver from third to sixth. However, Lawson still felt Red Bull should have had enough pace to escape the elimination zone even without the incident.
"We should really have the speed to get through anyway," said Lawson. "We had quite good speed yesterday, and then today we've lost some performance. Obviously the goal was to try and help Max in Q3, and never got there. So it's obviously not what we planned for. But I think our quali was a bit compromised anyway."
He also explained that his final lap was his first opportunity during qualifying to experience the effect of following another car around Monza, as he had been in clean air until then. "Obviously getting blocked in Turn 1 doesn't help," he added. "And I spent the whole of quali just in clean air until that last lap as well. So I hadn't even driven behind a car before. It wasn't ideal."
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