Liam Lawson: F1 shot for driver who always wins on debut

He and Ayumu Iwasa are the next Red Bull Junior drivers in line for F1 promotion. Although Iwasa is third in this year’s F2 championship, with three victories and has an impressive history in other junior categories, he can’t compete with Lawson’s astounding track record.

His rise through the ranks has been something of a fairytale, backed by a network of sponsors from his home in New Zealand, that have helped set him on a path to follow the likes of fellow Kiwis Bruce McLaren, Chris Amon and Denny Hulme into F1.

Lawson could count himself unlucky not to be in Formula 1 already. He was in the frame for this season’s AlphaTauri seat, which eventually went to De Vries, after an eye-catching journey up the racing ladder where he proved his adaptability and pace with that record of debut wins.

Success in karting earned him New Zealand’s SpeedSport scholarship for young drivers, helping to fund a Formula First drive where he won, aged 13, on his debut in the 2015 Manfeild Winter Series.

He followed that with a truly dominant Formula Ford season. Another debut win was followed by victory in the New Zealand F1600 national series, winning 14 out of 15 races and claiming the title on his 15th birthday.

In 2017, he began his Australian F4 career with a trademark win at the opening weekend, and went on to finish second in the championship. The following year, he was runner-up again in the German F4 championship, and took part in one round of the Asian F3 Series where he didn’t just win on his debut, but took pole position and victory in each of the three races over the weekend.

Lawson signed as a Red Bull Junior driver for 2019, and recorded two further debut wins that year: in the New Zealand-based Toyota Racing Series, on his way to the title, as well as in the Euroformula Open Championship, where he was runner-up.

That year, Lawson also joined the international F3 series, finishing 11th in his first year, then fifth in 2020.

Graduating to Formula 2 in 2021 with Hitech, he won his first race in Bahrain, and finished ninth in the championship. Then came a season with Carlin, with four victories, as he beat Logan Sargeant to third in the drivers’ standings whilst going wheel-to-wheel throughout the campaign with eventual winner Felipe Drugovich.

Lawson also competed in the 2021 DTM season where he was runner-up in the championship — after winning again on his debut.

This year, he’s currently second in Japanese Super Formula with three wins, including on his debut. He is also acting as Red Bull and AlphaTauri reserve driver, following FP1 outings for AlphaTauri in 2022; a position that earned him a place on the Zandvoort grid.

“If you are constantly at the front in Formula 2 and Formula 3 and also do well in DTM against experienced people, it shows that he has the capacity and talent to get into Formula 1,” Helmut Marko, head of Red Bull’s driver development programme, told Newstalk ZB. “The other question is though, whether there is a seat available.”

After De Vries’s exit, the thinking was been that Ricciardo was being assessed for a potential return to Red Bull, which could leave an AlphaTauri seat available in 2024 or 2025. However, if Lawson makes a strong impression and Ricciardo’s recovery leaves him sidelined for several races, Lawson may have a chance of making the seat his own.

But if it’s just a brief taste of life in F1, Lawson will return to the support role, with the likes of Felipe Drugovich and Theo Pourchaire who have proved themselves in F2, but can’t break through.

Lawson has previously said that he’s mentally ready for the opportunity. “Lewis Hamilton was somebody I really looked up to when I was a kid,” he said to the Generally Famous podcast. “But it got to a point where you get old enough and you start to realise that eventually, if you want to make F1, you’re gonna be racing against these guys. So you don’t want to be looking up to them. They’re not your heroes anymore.”

Backed by Red Bull, and with significant support from New Zealand-based Rodin Cars, Lawson went on to describe the hype around his F1 chances.

“In New Zealand, motor sport is very big. And I think all of these guys want to see a New Zealand driver make Formula 1. And luckily, they believe me enough to invest in me and put me on that pathway and sort of helped me make my dream. But I think for them as well, it’s very exciting for all of us too, like this group of people that we have now is growing so much. And everyone’s really excited about it, which is really cool.”