Montoya urges Red Bull to keep Lawson for Madrid as Hadjar's wrist injury lingers

Juan Pablo Montoya has called on Red Bull to retain Liam Lawson for the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid on 11-13 September, rather than rush Isack Hadjar back from the wrist injury that sidelined him ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Hadjar suffered the injury during the summer break, forcing Red Bull to call up Lawson at short notice for Zandvoort. With Lawson slotting into the senior car, reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda filled his Racing Bulls seat alongside Arvid Lindblad.

Despite having only one practice session to prepare, Lawson impressed immediately — closely matching Max Verstappen’s qualifying pace before finishing seventh to collect six championship points. He has continued in the role this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

Speaking on F1 TV’s Weekend Warm-Up, Montoya made the case for keeping Lawson in the cockpit one race longer. “If I were Red Bull, especially going into Madrid next week, I would go, ‘Hey, let’s be smart. We’re going to get a couple more weeks of recovery, and we’ll prepare Liam properly for Madrid because it’s a new track for everybody,’” the former driver said.

Montoya also praised Tsunoda’s performance as a stand-in at Racing Bulls. “Yuki showed the pace he had in the race, passing people, the aggression. Everything that you wanted to see out of a driver. He delivered. He did the job. He didn’t make mistakes. He didn’t put a wheel wrong, and it was really good to see.”

The Madrid race will be the first time the Formula 1 grid visits the new Madring circuit, a factor Montoya believes tilts the argument further in favour of continuity for Lawson.

In the drivers’ standings, Hadjar sits eighth with 68 points, while Lawson is ninth with 49. Verstappen is sixth on 112 points, well adrift of championship leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, who leads with 242 points.