Lawson takes engine penalty, to start Italian Grand Prix at back of grid

Despite qualifying 14th, Liam Lawson will start Formula One’s Italian Grand Prix from the back of the grid at Monza, after taking an engine penalty on behalf of injured former teammate Isack Hadjar.

Back at Red Bull for the second race in a row, Lawson’s car has seen a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger, exhaust set, motor generator unit-kinetic and power unit ancillary component fitted, and earned a 35-place grid drop as a result.

While he will start from the back of the grid, the fresh engine should at the very least give him an advantage over cars starting ahead of him.

“To be honest, the weekend in general has been focussed on the race, because we knew we were taking the penalty,” Lawson said after qualifying.

“It’s not ideal, we didn’t put that much focus on pure, one-lap speed. I spent the whole of quali in clean air until that last lap.

“I hadn’t even driven behind a car, it wasn’t ideal.”

The Kiwi isn’t the only driver taking an engine penalty, either. World championship leader Kimi Antonelli (30 place drop) has done the same for his home race, as has Williams’ Alex Albon (20 places).

Monza is known to be a preferential track to take engine penalties, due to the opportunities to overtake over the course of the 53-lap affair. Further helping Lawson for the race, Red Bull have also saved him a set of soft tyres by sending him out on mediums for the first part of the opening qualifying session (Q1).

Instead, Lawson’s role in qualifying became about trying to help teammate Max Verstappen, used to break the air in front of the four-time world champion and give him a slipstream to drive in. However, that compromised Lawson’s chances to get out of the second session of qualifying (Q2).

“Bro, that’s appalling. I can’t believe how bad you just f****** left me out to dry,” a frustrated Lawson was heard telling race engineer Richard Wood after his elimination.

Liam Lawson drives for Red Bull at the Italian Grand Prix. Photo / Red Bull

At the front of the grid, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly claimed a shock pole position, with a best lap of 1m 21.786s. The Frenchman will start at the front for the first time in his career, on a track where he achieved the only win of his career, six years ago.

Gasly’s pole came a day after his podium finish in Monaco was stripped, after a lengthy appeal process, and marks the first time an Alpine starts from the front since 2009, under its former ‘Renault’ moniker.

As he looks to fight his way back into the world championship race, Mercedes’ George Russell will start alongside Gasly, 0.060s off the pace.

With Lawson absent from the final qualifying session, Verstappen could only manage sixth, 0.284s off the pace, while the Kiwi’s fulltime Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad will start 10th.

The Italian Grand Prix begins at 1am on Monday morning (NZT).

Knowing he’d start from the back regardless of qualifying, Lawson entered the session with nothing to lose on the famous Italian circuit.

A best lap of 1m 22.898s saw Lawson through as the 13th fastest driver in the opening session, and advanced with 0.766s to spare.

With his objective being to reach Q3 to help Verstappen at his own expense, Lawson wasn’t able to progress from the second session, and was only able to post 1m 22.821s, as the 14th-fastest driver.

Sitting 0.262s adrift of the top 10 as he began his final lap, and with Verstappen ordered to give Lawson a tow, the Kiwi’s lap was hampered by traffic – notably McLaren’s Oscar Piastri into turn one – and missed out on advancing to Q3.

Piastri was handed a three-place grid penalty for the incident.

Italian Grand Prix qualifying result

1. Pierre Gasly - Alpine
2. George Russell - Mercedes
3. Oscar Piastri - McLaren* Grid penalty
4. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
5. Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari
6. Max Verstappen - Red Bull
7. Kimi Antonelli - Mercedes* Engine penalty
8. Franco Colapinto - Alpine
9. Lando Norris - McLaren
10. Arvid Lindblad - Racing Bulls
11. Gabriel Bortoleto - Audi
12. Ollie Bearman - Haas
13. Nico Hulkenberg - Audi
14. Liam Lawson - Red Bull* Engine penalty
15. Carlos Sainz - Williams
16. Esteban Ocon - Haas
17. Yuki Tsunoda - Racing Bulls
18. Alex Albon - Williams* Engine penalty
19. Valtteri Bottas - Cadillac
20. Sergio Perez - Cadillac
21. Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin
22. Lance Stroll - Aston Martin

Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.