The Red Bull F1 junior aiming to defy geographical odds

In a country based as far from Europe as possible and where sheep outnumber the population of approximately five million, the odds of reaching Formula 1 are stacked heavily against aspiring drivers. But try telling that to Red Bull junior Liam Lawson.

What New Zealand lacks in population, it certainly makes up for it on the track. The small antipodean nation more than punches above its weight in producing motorsport talent.

Nine Kiwis have raced in F1 over the years and the most successful of them, Denny Hulme, was world champion in 1967. Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon also put the country on the map in F1 (although Amon was repeatedly frustrated in his efforts to win a grand prix) and famously teamed up to win the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours, driving a Ford GT40. Ex-Toro Rosso F1 driver Brendon Hartley and fellow Kiwi Earl Bamber emulated their feat by teaming up with Timo Bernhard to win Le Mans for Porsche in 2017 - a second win in three years for Bamber - while Hartley added his second win with Toyota last year.

Outside F1, Scott Dixon is a six-time IndyCar champion - and three-time winner of the Daytona 24 Hours - approaching 20 years as a staple of the Chip Ganassi Racing line-up, while three-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin is billed as Team Penske's next Indycar champion.

For all that illustrious heritage, it’s not easy for drivers to progress to the big time from outposts like New Zealand and Australia. It takes plenty of skill, sacrifice and of course financial backing just to make the leap to Europe’s junior formulas, let alone reach F1. A high percentage of talented drivers from New Zealand have few options to make a living outside racing in Australia’s Supercars Championship, such is the difficulty and the support required to take their careers to a true international level.

But it doesn’t appear that Lawson, who grew up close to New Zealand’s hallowed Pukekohe Park Raceway, will fall into that scenario. The 19-year-old's meteoric rise from New Zealand’s Formula First to Formula 2 in the space of five years means he is now just one move away from the F1 pipe dream.

Lawson won on his F2 debut in Bahrain

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Yet despite the rate of his ascent, don't be fooled into thinking he's had it easy. Lawson's journey has been one of hard graft and without the hefty family backing - usually par for the course on the F1 junior ladder - which makes life a whole lot easier. Talent, sponsorship and the guidance of key figures such as legendary three-time New Zealand Grand Prix winning mentor Ken Smith have steered the young Kiwi from national Formula Ford title glory in 2017 to the point of winning on his F2 debut earlier this year.

In between those two milestones, Lawson has showcased his prodigious talent by finishing runner-up in the short-lived Australian Formula 4 Championship in 2017 and the ADAC Formula 4 Championship the following year - his first big break in Europe.

He pipped highly-rated compatriot and Ferrari Driver Academy member Marcus Armstrong to the Toyota Racing Series title in early 2019, peaking the interest of Red Bull. The 17-year-old was signed to its famous junior driver programme shortly afterwards and combined dual seasons in Euroformula Open - beating Yuki Tsunoda to finish runner-up - and FIA Formula 3.

"It's important to step back and realise what is going on and appreciate how real it is, because this opportunity doesn’t come very often. I’m very lucky to have it" Liam Lawson

Switching from MP Motorsport to Hitech GP, he won three times in his second season of FIA F3 last year to end the year fifth and has remained with the Silverstone squad for his rookie F2 campaign this term.

“It has been a crazy couple of years,” Lawson tells Autosport. “From where I was in Australia with a small amount of backing to get as much as we have has been crazy.

"It has all been off sponsorship and investment, none of it is self-funding. I don’t come from a family like most at this level do with family backing. It is crazy to think about the amount of support we have had over the last few years from New Zealand.

“I remember the day I won the SpeedSport Scholarship in New Zealand in a Formula First - after the first day of a two-day scholarship, they eliminated 20 of the drivers and there was six of us left. I remember rocking up for finals day and there was a big photo of Richie Stanaway on the tent wall that had just been printed - as he’d just won the GP2 race at Monaco overnight.

Lawson scored two FIA F3 podiums in 2019, but took another year to become a winner

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Motorsport Images

“It is always a dream [to get to that level] and it doesn’t ever really seem possible, then it is crazy how normal it becomes. Walking into the Red Bull F1 team base the first time, it's like, 'Oh my God'. Now I walk in there all the time and it's just normal. It's important to step back and realise what is going on and appreciate how real it is, because this opportunity doesn’t come very often. I’m very lucky to have it.”

Lucky is indeed the word. Despite his Red Bull junior status, Lawson reveals that without recent sponsorship from long-time supporter David Dicker - the CEO of New Zealand automotive firm Rodin Cars - he wouldn't have made the F2 grid this year.

“F2 is a massive step up in budget compared to F3 and what we had, even with the amazing support in sponsorship and investment we have, it wasn’t realistic,” he says. “It is amazing David came on board - without him I wouldn’t be racing this year.”

Lawson has made the most of the backing. Having burst onto the F2 scene with a victory on debut in the Bahrain season opener, the teenager would be firmly in the title race had he not been disqualified from a win at Monaco’s second sprint race for using the incorrect throttle map at the race start. He currently sits eighth in points.

His performances have turned heads and pleased Helmut Marko, the head of Red Bull’s junior programme, but Lawson knows that he cannot let up if he is to achieve his ultimate goal. As one of three Red Bull juniors in F2, including Hitech team-mate Juri Vips and Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala, he has to keep producing the goods when the season resumes after its summer break at Monza in September.

“I think overall the speed and the races we have had have been really good, but we don’t have the points to show it which is obviously what we need to get on top of now,” says Lawson. “A lot of it has been out of our control, but a lot of it has been in our control as well.

“Obviously the Monaco thing was a disaster and, at the end of the day, it was my fault for not changing the map. Little things like that we need to get on top of because the speed is there - and, for the first time in my whole European career, I think we have the speed to win this year and fight for the championship.

Lawson has to keep pushing to ensure he comes out on top of the intra-Red Bull junior battle with Daruvala and Vips

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“Last year we were fast enough in F3, but as an overall package Prema were still dominant. I thought we could get close, but didn’t think it was possible [to beat them]. This year with how F2 is and how changeable it is, it is possible.”

The prestige of being part of Red Bull’s junior programme comes with its perks, but also huge pressure to perform to ensure Marko's high expectations are met. Now in his third year with Red Bull, pressure is something Lawson is well-versed in handling.

“With most junior programmes and I think especially with Red Bull you can be doing great, but as soon as you start doing bad they are on you,” he says.

"There are so many memes now of him kicking the tyres - and those are my boots!" Liam Lawson

“It has all been okay - it is obviously a programme that likes to put a lot of pressure on you and maybe even adds pressure to see how you react to it. Especially in the first year with Red Bull, I felt that a lot. But more recently, when you put that out of your mind, it is not really a problem.”

To further scrutinise Lawson’s potential, Red Bull has placed him in one of its two AF Corse Ferrari entries in the new-look DTM, alongside F1 refugee Alex Albon. In his first race in a GT3 car, Lawson bolted out of the blocks with a victory in the opening race at Monza - the first for an Italian marque in the championship since 1996 - and sits second in the championship after two second place finishes last weekend at the Lausitzring.

His progress was rewarded last month with a maiden F1 drive in Sebastien Vettel’s 2011 title winning Red Bull RB7 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. And while that remains the closest Lawson has come to F1, bizarrely his boots have already tasted the big time and the attention that goes with it.

In a strange version of the Cinderella fairytale last month in Baku, Red Bull F1 title contender Max Verstappen was without his race boots that were stuck in transit. After unsuccessfully trying team-mate Sergio Perez’s spare footwear, a pair of boots belonging to Lawson - on-site for the trio of F2 races - fitted just right and allowed Verstappen to go to the proverbial ball.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B looking at the tyre after retiring from the race

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The boots almost did the business for Verstappen, who dominated the race, only for the now famous tyre blowout to extinguish any victory hopes. However, the boots did receive plenty of air time cue scenes of an angry Dutchman kicking his Red Bull’s tyres, that quickly went viral on social media.

“It was funny - there are so many memes now of him kicking the tyres - and those are my boots!” says Lawson. “I felt bad because I only had one spare pair and they were DTM boots with no branding. They nearly got the job done for him as well, which would have been pretty cool. I got a free pair of boots out of it which was good!

“I don’t have them, they are still at the [Red Bull] workshop. The said they had them, but I don’t need them back."

Given the fame boots have acquired, would he sell such a prized piece of memorabilia to help his career? Lawson replies: “No I wouldn’t do that, I’d keep them.”

Flirtations with F1 are all well and good, but Lawson has his sights on becoming a fully fledged F1 driver and the first from New Zealand since Hartley’s brief spell with the team now known as AlphaTauri came to an end in 2018.

When asked what he needs to do to emulate his compatriot, Lawson offers a simple answer.

“Just win basically,” he says. “So far we have shown good speed and I don’t think we have done enough with the races we have had. If you were to ask me if I think I’ve done enough this year, I would say 'No'.

“If we tidy up the issues and we keep the speed we have, then it is definitely possible. The call from Red Bull is you have to win.”

A win and two second places mean GT newcomer Lawson sits second in the DTM standings

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz