How Liam Lawson’s hold-up play affected the Monaco GP

One of the great mysteries prior to this year’s Monaco Grand Prix had lain in how Formula 1’s teams would execute a second stop for tyres – especially without the impact of a safety car.

As such, the race was defined by extreme hold-up play among the midfielders, much to the chagrin of those who hoped for a scintillating spectacle at Monaco. Racing Bulls had pounced on the idea first, with the aim of using Liam Lawson to build a sufficient gap for Isack Hadjar. The Parisian could then conduct both of his required stops without losing much in the way of track position.

It was risky, particularly as Lawson was in danger of being hung out to dry when it came to his own stops, but the Italian squad’s strategy ended up being adopted by other teams – and Williams’ own gap-stretching efforts ultimately paid Lawson’s gallantry back.

What perhaps went unnoticed on TV was that Lawson was attempting to stretch the gap from the get-go, having ‘lost’ over eight seconds to Hadjar by the second lap as he tried to go as slowly as permitted under an early virtual safety car period. A portion of this gap can also be attributed to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who was attempting to do the same thing in an effort to buy Charles Leclerc a space to pit into.

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Following the VSC, Hamilton was no longer required to back the pack up, but Lawson carried on in his pursuit to stretch the field. In comparison to Hadjar’s early laps in the 1m18s-19s range, Lawson was lapping in the 1m20s-21s bracket – and sometimes even slower – to allow the hole in the upper midfield to expand.

The graph below shows the gap between Hadjar and Lawson.

Lawson’s gap to Hadjar, Racing Bulls

Photo by: Motorsport Network

With a 19-second pitstop window anticipated, Racing Bulls ended up gathering more headroom for Hadjar when the Frenchman made his opening stop; the gap at the end of the 13th lap had exceeded that delta. Once Hadjar stopped at the end of lap 14, he had plenty of time in hand over his team-mate.

After his opening stop, Lawson was over four seconds per lap slower on each of the following tours to furnish his less experienced team-mate with another pit window. Hadjar took his next stop at the end of lap 19 and it was job done: he’d completed both required stops at about quarter-distance.

For a time, however, it looked as though Lawson was in the weeds. By lap 20, the New Zealander was just over a second clear of Alex Albon, with the entire chasing train of cars sat in lock-step behind. The thing is, the yet-to-stop Williams pair of Albon and Carlos Sainz weren’t going to stop and end up at the rear of the pack, and nor were the two Mercedes drivers.

Racing Bulls had effectively goaded the cars behind into trying the same thing. By lap 24, Williams decided to use Carlos Sainz to make a gap for Albon to pit into, and the Spaniard continued to back up the pack for the next seven laps to give his team-mate space.

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Lawson jumped at the chance and, since he was a further two seconds ahead of Albon by the end of lap 30, pounced on the opportunity to do his own first stop. Knowing Sainz then had to undergo the same pain he’d been through in the opening 20 laps, Lawson remained patient and made his second tyre change – at the same time as Albon – on lap 40.

Carlos Sainz leads George Russell

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

These tactics spawned further consequences; Sainz and Albon swapped places to ensure the ex-Ferrari driver could also get his two stops in, as Mercedes used Andrea Kimi Antonelli to do likewise for George Russell.

Albon’s efforts to build Sainz a gap were almost compromised when Russell skipped the Nouvelle Chicane to pass the Anglo-Thai driver, having figured that the penalty was worth the cost of being held up. But Sainz’s fears of missing out on the top 10 were extinguished when Russell claimed a drive-through penalty for his cynical breach of the rules.

Although the hold-up play had very little effect on the leaders, aside from the wealth of traffic they had to navigate during the grand prix, it nonetheless defined the race and the added pitstop ruling. If F1 is to try the rule again in 2026, it might have to find a method of mitigating those particular tactics…