A poor pit strategy cost Liam Lawson at the Italian Grand Prix, as the Racing Bulls driver settled for 15th at Monza.
After an error in qualifying condemned Lawson to effectively starting from the back of the grid, Racing Bulls’ gamble didn’t pay off, and gave Lawson a frustrating afternoon on a track where he’d finished 11th in 2023.
Starting as the only driver on soft tyres, Lawson lasted just 10 of the 53 laps before he was forced to pit for the first time in the hope of completing a one-stop strategy.
However, that meant by the time Lawson’s competition made their first stops later in the race, his tyres were too old to defend faster cars behind him, and left him helpless to being overtaken in the middle stages of the race.
“We tried a gamble to make something out of it,” said Lawson post-race. “It just didn’t work.
“It nearly worked, [but] a couple of cars came out around us, they were on fresh tyres and we just lost a lot of time.
“It was tough from where we were starting.”
In comparison, Lawson’s teammate, Isack Hadjar, started on the hards, and was able to go from a pit lane start to finish 10th and score one championship point, after he was able to run long in his first stint before switching to mediums.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen was able to convert pole position into his third grand prix win of the season, after an early tangle that saw him lose the lead in the opening stages, before regaining it.
McLaren’s Lando Norris took second place to land a small championship blow on his teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished third. Norris had looked to have let his advantage slip, as a jammed wheel gun saw him overtaken in the pits, before McLaren ordered their drivers to switch positions.
Norris’ result cuts Piastri’s advantage at the top of the drivers’ championship to 31 points, while Verstappen has slightly closed the gap on the two McLaren cars by seven points.
Hadjar’s result sees him move up one place in the drivers’ standings, now ninth as he chases promotion to Red Bull’s senior ranks.
Meanwhile, McLaren move even further clear in the constructors’ championship, with their 337-point gap now meaning the title can be sealed as early as the next race in Baku.
Having qualified 20th, Lawson’s cause was boosted when both Hadjar and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly made changes to their car outside Parc Ferme rules, and were forced to start from pit lane.
Before the lights went out, Lawson was moved up into 17th, as Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was forced to retire on the formation lap.
On the first lap, Lawson made use of being the only driver to start on the soft tyres, and climbed as high as 15th by getting around the pair of Franco Colapinto of Alpine and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.
Those faster tyres kept Lawson within range of Esteban Ocon, in the one-second window to use his drag reduction system (DRS). And even though Ocon kept Lawson in his mirrors, the Haas driver was hit by a five-second penalty for forcing Stroll off the track.
But Lawson’s speed advantage was short-lived, and saw him become the first driver to pit, when he fitted a set of hards on lap 10, with the intention of going to the end in his second stint.
Emerging from the pits in 19th, close to 20 seconds back from Gasly, Lawson was given clean air, and was able to claw back that gap to just under 13 seconds before other drivers started to pit for the first time.
On lap 19, Haas’ Ollie Bearman stopped to see Lawson climb back to 18th, and then up to 17th when Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda did the same one lap later.
An error in the pits from Sauber saw Lawson overtake Gabriel Bortoleto, only to lose 16th place by the end of the next lap, given his tyres were 11 laps older.
On lap 25, Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin suffered suspension failure that had Lawson climb back to 16th, only to fall down to 18th when both Bearman and Tsunoda were able to overtake the Kiwi, given their faster tyres.
Lawson and Tsunoda tangled on track, which saw the Kiwi gain a place after making contact with his former junior teammate, but was asked to give the place back by his Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane, before the stewards could.
Franco Colapinto’s stop had Lawson climb to 17th, with a gap of just under 10 seconds on the Alpine, and began to move to within overtaking range of Tsunoda, albeit without success.
Ocon’s penalty eventually came back to bite him at the end, where after pit stops for Stroll and Gasly, Lawson was lifted into 14th place.
Formula One now takes a week off, before returning later this month for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
Did not start: Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber
Did not finish: Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.