Meet Liam Lawson: From six-year-old go-karter to Formula 1 driver
Saturday, 28 September 2024
From the moment a 6-year-old Liam Lawson set foot in a go-kart, his dream of a Formula 1 career was set in motion.
On Friday, 16 years after Lawson first sped around the old Mt Wellington KartSport track in Auckland, that dream became reality with confirmation of a drive for the final six races of this F1 season, replacing Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull set-up.
Lawson was born in Hastings to parents Jared and Kristy before the family settled in Pukekohe. Jared Lawson’s passion for motorsport rubbed off on young Liam - the middle child among four siblings: Jessica, Holly, Marcos and Leah.
“None of my family raced, I wasn’t brought into karting or early racing through a family member, it was just something that I wanted to do since I was born,” Lawson said on the F2 Championship website.
“My dad basically got me a go-kart and had to learn everything from scratch - how to run the kart, how to work on the engine, how to help me learn to drive as well because he didn’t have a clue. Then all through my entire career, he worked extremely hard to keep me racing.”
A photo of a grinning 10-year-old Liam in his kart surrounded by trophies (including his first national title) was early evidence of his hunger for success, as his parents ferried him to as many as 40 meetings a year across the country.
He never forgot his karting roots, and as recently as February was back for the 2024 KartSport Grand Prix, having already had five F1 starts last year as a reserve driver.
The family soon found out how financially draining a career it would be. “My parents sold their house so that I could keep racing. It's massive. They gave absolutely everything for me to be able to race, even just go-karts because it's so expensive,” Lawson told Red Bull’s Talking Bull Podcast.
At 15 Lawson, now graduated to the bigger cars, won on Formula 4 debut in Australia. He didn’t complete high school and at 16 chased his dream in Europe in the German F4 championship with Dutch squad Van Amersfoort Racing, with help from sponsors. Kiwi motorsport icon Colin Giltrap, and Tony Quinn are among the many backers listed on Lawson’s site - without them his career wouldn’t have launched with drivers needing to self-fund their formative years.
He finished second in his first season in Europe but wasn’t picked up by an F1 Junior Academy, so returned home to race the Toyota Winter Series and consider his future.
In 2018 he finished second in the Formula 4 Championship and then came a life-changing phone call the following year when Lawson went on to win the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild and the Toyota Racing Series.
Helmut Marko, known as the godfather of Red Bull’s driver programme, was watching Lawson’s older team-mate Lucas Auer in the opening round of that 2019 series when Lawson won at Highlands, central Otago. Marko was impressed, and on the phone a few days later to offer him a spot.
Said Lawson on the Talking Bull podcast: “I was sitting in a cafe - I remember exactly where I was sitting. I got told and it was obviously pretty emotional. I basically got picked up at the perfect time and it saved my career. I had those four weeks left of that championship, and then I had no plan after that…”
He finished third in the 2022 F2 championship to land a Red Bull reserve role alongside a Japanese Super Formula campaign for 2023, and when Ricciardo broke his wrist in Dutch Grand Prix practice Lawson got the nod for his first F1 drive and the remaining five races of the year.
A documentary Liam Lawson: In The Wings charted his rollercoaster 2023 and the immense pressure to perform. “If I don’t nail this year there’s no way I get another shot,” Lawson said.
He became New Zealand’s 10th F1 driver and finished 13th in a memorable debut, then 11th in the Italian GP at Monza before his best finish - ninth in Singapore - amid some devastating news.
Lawson was told just an hour before qualifying in Singapore that he did not have a seat for the following year, and would again be a reserve driver in 2024. He couldn’t yet tell his family who were there to watch him in F1 for the first time.
Lawson drove to the third and final stage of qualifying - outperforming Red Bull’s three time champion Max Verstappen - for the first time and picked up his first F1 points when finishing ninth.
Now, Lawson gets his big chance, finishing the season at Visa Cash App Red Bull (VCARB), the sister team of Red Bull, alongside Yuki Tsunoda, starting in Austin, Texas on October 20.
From an estimated salary of between $US100,000-$200,000 as a reserve driver, Lawson’s upgraded contract could reportedly be worth as much as US$5 million (NZ$7.9m).
The Times reported Lawson is expected to retain his seat at VCARB next season, but if he impresses enough in the next six races he could challenge Sergio Perez for the second Red Bull drive.
He certainly feels ready, and battle hardened. “I probably looked at this when I was in my first couple of years and thought it was way too much pressure and too harsh.
“And there’s a fair argument to say it is too harsh, but if you survive those years and you get a chance in Formula 1, it’s honestly exactly what you need to prepare yourself.”
Liam Lawson - at a glance
Born: February 11, 2002 in Hastings
Age: 22
Career highlights:
2016-17: NZ F1600 Championship Series - winner
2017: Australian Formula 4 Championship - runnerup
2018: ADAC Formula 4 Championship - runnerup
2019: Joins Red Bull Junior Team; New Zealand Grand Prix - winner; Toyota Racing Series - winner; Euroformula Open Championship - runnerup
2020: Toyota Racing Series - runnerup; FIA Formula 3 Championship (Hitech GP) - fifth
2021: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (AF Corse) - runnerup (won opening race at Monza); FIA Formula 2 Championship (Hitech GP) - eighth (won opening race in Bahrain)
2022: FIA Formula 2 Championship (Carlin) - third; Formula 1 test driver for Alpha Tauri (first free practice at Dutch Grand Prix)
2023: Super Formula (Mugen) - runnerup; Formula 1 (Alpha Tauri) - Dutch GP 13th; Italian GP 11th; Singapore GP ninth; Japanese GP 11th; Qatar GP 17th
2024: Formula 1 - reserve driver for Red Bull, picked in September to race the final six rounds of the season