We wasn’t expecting this: Red Bull Best Driver reveal Liam Lawson reasons for his departure……
Formula One features some of the world’s fastest and most sophisticated cars, most brilliant engineers, and most talented drivers. For the people in the sport, the climb to reach the “pinnacle of motorsports” is the most daunting part of their careers. In Origin Stories, we take you beyond today’s news to understand how today’s players earned their starring roles.
The emergence of Liam Lawson has been one of the most surprising, feel good stories of Formula One in 2023.
Drafted in for the Dutch Grand Prix at the last minute by AlphaTauri after Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand in a practice accident, Lawson stepped up from his reserve driver role. At 21, he became the youngest driver on the F1 grid.
He seized the opportunity. Lawson’s impressive performances in the last four races not only lifted AlphaTauri — he scored the team’s best result of the season in the Singapore GP — but proved he is more than ready to race full-time in F1 once that chance comes his way.
Making that happen would be the realization of a dream that started over 11,000 miles away. Lawson knew that making it to F1 was tough for anyone, anywhere. To make it from New Zealand would be even tougher.
But through sacrifice, hard work and bags of talent, Lawson has broken through and put himself on the doorstep of a bright future in F1.
Kiwi heroes
Lawson grew up in Pukekohe, a town of just over 25,000 people on the outskirts of Auckland. He caught the racing bug at a very young age, his father being a fan of F1 and the Australian V8 Supercars series. As a child, he became obsessed with cars, bikes, even diggers and tractors. “Basically, it was everything with a motor,” Lawson told The Athletic.
In pre-school, Lawson became best friends with a kid called Matthew Payne, whose father was a racing driver. Lawson tagged along to watch a race one day and fell further in love with motorsport, prompting him to try go-karting. He quickly showed a talent for it.
“From the age of seven or eight years old, when it became serious, we were traveling all over the country to go to the national events,” Lawson said. “There was lots of time off school from a young age, lots of weekends away with Dad.”
