Liam Lawson has admitted he knew coming into the Italian Grand Prix weekend that he would be taking a grid penalty.
The New Zealander was retained by Red Bull for a second successive weekend as Isack Hadjar continues to recover from a wrist injury.
Lawson endured a challenging qualifying outing as he was blocked by Oscar Piastri during Q2, which put a major dent in his efforts to progress into the top 10 shootout.
However, it meant little for Lawson's starting position, as Red Bull confirmed shortly before qualifying that he will take a grid penalty this weekend for taking on new components.
Reflecting on the session, Lawson told media including RacingNews365: “It just wasn't ideal, we obviously left it to the end there to try and put a lap together.
“The tyres were pretty hot after just one lap, and [it was] not ideal getting blocked at Turn 1.
“The goal was to try and focus this week on the race anyway. We've got the penalty for tomorrow, so yesterday we were very long-run focused anyway.”
Although Lawson takes the grid drop, the engine allocation still belongs to Hadjar.
While it's frustrating for the 24-year-old to have his weekend hindered by the setback, he insisted the decision had already been taken ahead of the weekend.
“It was planned before for the weekend so it was something I knew coming into it,” he said.
“It's why we spent yesterday focusing on the race.”
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