Why Monza has been second time unlucky for Lawson and Tsunoda

Here's the thing about momentum in motorsport: it can vanish just as quickly as it arrives. After turning heads with their substitute appearances at , and arrived in Italy hoping to build on that promise. Instead, Monza has delivered a brutal reality check, leaving both drivers with serious work to do on race day.

For Lawson, this weekend was always going to be an exercise in damage limitation. Red Bull opted to change power unit elements that guarantee him a start at the back of the grid, meaning his entire weekend required a heavy focus on race preparation. Yet there was still a job to do in qualifying, specifically tasked with giving teammate a tow—a strategic role executed brilliantly at Spa. Unfortunately, the mission fell apart when Lawson could only manage P13 in Q2, missing out on the shootout entirely after a scrappy session compounded by traffic.

"It just wasn't ideal," Lawson said, noting the red-hot tyres and an untimely block by at Turn 1 on his final run. "I just spent the whole quali in clean air until that last lap, that was the first time I'd sat behind a car."

Lawson wasn't shy about expressing his frustration on the radio either, admitting the execution didn't quite match the plan. With a 2027 seat not yet guaranteed and waiting in the wings, showing what he can do in a Red Bull remains paramount, making his back-of-the-grid climb a crucial test.

Down at Racing Bulls, Yuki Tsunoda is facing a similarly uphill battle and is due to start from P15 after penalties for other drivers elevated him from a P17 qualifying berth. Getting up to speed at Monza proved to be a steep learning curve for the Japanese racer, who admitted to struggling with energy management and even forgetting to activate straight-line mode—a routine action drivers perform four times a lap here—during Friday's running.

Things took an even more baffling turn in Q1, where a massive 1.028-second gap to teammate laid bare the scale of his struggles. Tsunoda was completely stumped by the sudden drop-off, pointing out a staggering seven-tenths deficit in the first sector alone, which consists of just two corners.