For the third a part of a brand new mini-series the place Motorsport.com is assessing the early Formulation 1 careers of the six 2025 rookies, at the moment we’re introducing a driver the championship already is aware of fairly properly: Liam Lawson.
Actually, with 11 race begins underneath his belt and three factors finishes as a brief AlphaTauri/Racing Bulls driver in 2023 and 2024, it’s fairly a stretch to think about the New Zealander as F1 beginner.
However, this yr was the primary time he’s executed a full pre-season and he heads to Melbourne as the one one of many ‘rookie’ crop with none expertise of the Albert Park structure. The circuit was solely added to the Formulation 2 calendar after Lawson moved on to race in Tremendous Formulation in 2023.
“Certainly I am not – Antonelli, Doohan?” was his shocked preliminary reply when this was identified to him at F1 75 Stay in London final month earlier than the F2 level was made. “Oh no approach. I’m the one man!”
Earlier than F2, the place he achieved a finest results of third in 2022, Lawson was fifth within the 2020 Formulation 3 championship. He dovetailed his 2021 F2 season with a DTM marketing campaign that led to a controversial defeat to Maximilian Gotz after two clashes instigated in lunges from his different title rival, Kelvin van der Linde. Lawson was additionally the Tremendous Formulation runner-up in 2023.
Liam Lawson, TEAM MUGEN
Picture by: Masahide Kamio
However even with out these titles, he made a agency sufficient impression on Purple Bull crew principal Christian Horner and motorsport advisor Helmut Marko by means of that point that they continued advancing him up the chain.
It was his spectacular performances changing the injured Daniel Ricciardo in 2023, nevertheless, that ensured Lawson continued on the F1 path up to now.
And it’s clear from the most recent sequence of ‘Drive to Survive’ that he took being ignored for a full-time RB race drive in 2024 properly/badly (delete as you see match) to fireside him on to maintain impressing Horner and Marko even whereas on the sidelines.
That he hadn’t raced anything in early 2024 earlier than his Ricciardo-like Silverstone evaluation day after the British Grand Prix final yr reveals how properly he did to be simply 0.2s off the benchmark time set by his new team-mate Max Verstappen.
Per Purple Bull crew insiders, Lawson’s tenacity was a substantial consider his speedy promotion to that spot, as soon as Sergio Perez’s goodwill earned together with his driving in help of Verstappen in 2021 had lastly run out inside that string of underwhelming outcomes final yr.
The Bahrain pre-season check didn’t go as Purple Bull wished total – however this primarily centres on its struggles to search out the best set-up for the RB21.
Lawson did full the second-lowest lap rely of the 20 drivers – though simply six fewer than Verstappen’s 155, because the third lowest complete – however his solely complete day within the automobile got here on the rain-disrupted second day. Throughout this, an engine water stress loss additionally price him time to finish a race simulation.
Liam Lawson, Purple Bull Racing
Picture by: Purple Bull Content material Pool
However there was an attention-grabbing notice from Horner in Bahrain, as he advised F1 TV that Lawson was “working his approach into the crew and his suggestions is sweet – it is in step with what Max is saying” on how their driving types react with the brand new automobile’s dealing with.
This could possibly be essential for Lawson’s long-term hopes of holding on to one in every of F1’s most-prized seats, given how Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Perez have struggled throughout the storage since Verstappen actually hit his stride whereas team-mate to Ricciardo again in 2018.
In 2025, Lawson has a special race engineer in comparison with Perez since 2021, with Richard Wooden changing Hugh Chook. When Motorsport.com requested about this, with the criticism Chook was getting from Perez’s followers final yr in thoughts, Horner claimed “it was a pure change”.
“Hugh has not too long ago added to his household and his talent set can actually be properly utilised throughout the manufacturing facility,” Horner added. “So, it was a win-win state of affairs. He will get a number of extra nights at residence, however on the identical time, performs a key function in our automobile dynamics division, bringing all that trackside information and expertise into that division.
“He is an extremely vibrant engineer and he’ll be an asset to that. And on the identical time, it is a part of the crew’s pure evolution the place it offers Woody the possibility to step up and into that function of engineering Liam. So, it was only a pure juncture for that to occur.”
However the change of driver would be the largest factor in cooling what had apparently develop into strained relations on the underperforming aspect of the Purple Bull storage in 2024. A contemporary begin can simply be so welcome to all events.
Liam Lawson, Purple Bull Racing
Picture by: Purple Bull Content material Pool
There’s a lesson in Lawson’s brief, current, F1 historical past, nevertheless, that ought to stand him properly now he’s a full-time driver.
That is how the impression he made throughout his cameo run in 2024 rubbed up two very skilled drivers.
One was, after all, Perez and got here in that almighty scrap within the Mexican GP that ended with Lawson giving Perez the finger in entrance of his residence crowd.
Lawson issued a mea culpa when this author advised that’s the type of factor Marko enjoys of his drivers within the speedy aftermath of the race on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, however this had extra to do with how an RB racer had compromised a Purple Bull automobile.
The extra obtrusive difficulty, as in the end understood by all events, was simply how badly Perez was driving the RB20 that it was in Lawson’s orbit within the a lot slower VCARB 01 within the first place…
Lawson’s first 2024 spat with a longtime driver got here with double world champion Fernando Alonso solely the earlier week – simply his first week again changing Ricciardo, in the USA GP dash race.
When it comes to Lawson’s driving, he most likely was over the road when it comes to aggression in shoving the Aston Martin driver off at Austin’s Flip 11, and Alonso was by no means going to let one thing like that slide.
However in taking this strategy instantly on his F1 return it reveals that Lawson is completely fearless on the prime degree with every little thing on the road – on condition that Marko can lose confidence in a driver on the proof of only a single motion.
That ought to stand Lawson properly as he will get to grips with F1’s hardest job: being Verstappen’s team-mate. Right here, such confidence can shortly crumble…
Learn Additionally:
On this article
Alex Kalinauckas
Formulation 1
Liam Lawson
Purple Bull Racing
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