Liam Lawson keeps Red Bull seat for Madrid as Isack Hadjar ruled out again

Red Bull has confirmed that Liam Lawson will continue to race for the team in this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix as Isack Hadjar continues to recover from a wrist injury.

Hadjar sustained an injury to his wrist during Formula 1’s summer break, leading to him being sidelined for the Dutch GP at Zandvoort last month. The Frenchman was present for the race to support Red Bull, with his wrist and upper forearm in a cast.

The team opted to promote Lawson — who usually drives for Red Bull’s sister F1 team, Racing Bulls — into Hadjar’s seat for Zandvoort, and give the vacant Racing Bulls seat to reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda.

Lawson and Tsunoda kept their respective seats for last week’s Italian GP at Monza, with Red Bull informing both drivers on Wednesday that Hadjar was not ready to return.

Red Bull has now made an earlier call ahead of this week’s Spanish GP, announcing that Lawson will partner Max Verstappen in the senior Red Bull team for a third straight race weekend.

“The decision has been taken as Isack’s recovery continues to progress positively,” Red Bull said in a statement.

“While he is not yet ready to return to the cockpit, he will be in Madrid supporting the team.

“Everyone at Red Bull Racing looks forward to welcoming Isack back behind the wheel very soon.”

It was always deemed unlikely that Hadjar would return to the Red Bull car in the middle of back-to-back race weeks. The Madring circuit in Madrid is also brand new for F1, featuring a mix of street circuit sections and fast, flowing corners with walls nearby that could have aggravated Hadjar’s injury in the event of an accident.

The early call will give Lawson in particular a chance to hone his preparations going into the coming race weekend.

After Sunday’s race at Monza, Lawson said he had no idea which car he would be driving in Madrid, but the Red Bull and Racing Bulls cars were “so different to drive,” making an adjustment to the Red Bull in particular with work in the simulator important.

Lawson finished seventh for Red Bull at Zandvoort, but sustained damage in a clash with Nico Hulkenberg following the restart of the race in Italy that forced an extra pit stop, dropping him back and limiting him to 14th place after starting from the pit lane. Tsunoda was able to grab his first F1 point since returning at Monza, crossing the line 10th.