Liam Lawson: Daniel was the only one who congratulated me.

      Liam Lawson has become the tenth New Zealand representative in Formula 1 in the history of the World Championship and will spend his first full season with Red Bull Racing, becoming Max Verstappen's new team-mate.

      On the eve of the first stage of the season, the Australian edition of GQ magazine published a very extensive interview with the 23-year-old racer, which touched on a variety of topics.

      "When I was a kid, I watched Supercars and Formula 1 races with my dad because I was crazy about cars, like most of the guys I grew up with," recalls Liam. – Since New Zealand has a well-developed karting community, when our good riders go to competitions in America or Europe, they often achieve success.

      But many people go karting because their fathers used to race too. Although my father watched racing on TV, he was not a fan of motorsport. My best friend got interested in go-karting back in preschool days. When I was five years old, I watched him race and realized that I wanted to do it too.

      In my first year in this sport, when I was already seven years old, I finished last in every race. I wasn't even close to getting good results. I think I've been complaining to my dad about the problems with my card for over a year. He said the engine was bad, but he thought it was just me.  

      In the end, he got tired of my nagging, he bought two good engines, and for the first time we put one of them on the car before an important race. And I showed the best result in qualifying. After that, we always fought only in the front ranks.

      It was a defining moment when the passion for go-karting became really serious. I always thought it was a serious matter, but for my father, everything changed that weekend..."

      Liam's parents didn't have much opportunity to pay for his motorsport classes, and he felt it back in the days of karting. In order for their son to continue racing, they had to sell the house.

      "They still don't have their own house. Because of me," he said honestly. – But I'm very, very lucky. Already in the early stages of my career, I got sponsors. I met a wonderful man who spent all his time looking for sponsors for me..."

      In 2015, when Liam was 12 years old, he made his debut in the New Zealand winter series, becoming the best newcomer of the year. In 2017, he won the title in the national Formula Ford, winning 14 victories in 15 races, becoming the youngest champion of this series, and with each successive success, sponsors showed more and more interest in him.

      After some time, Helmut Marko called him and offered to join the Red Bull youth program - we can say that everything else is history.

      Lawson gradually gained experience, performed in different series, and performed well, but his Formula 1 debut did not occur until the end of the summer of 2023, when Daniel Ricciardo, who was driving for AlphaTauri at the time, was injured in training before the Dutch Grand Prix. Liam was the team's reserve driver and replaced the Australian.

      In his debut race, he finished 13th - outside the top ten, but two positions higher than Yuki Tsunoda, his more experienced teammate. Liam was already 11th in Monza, 9th in Singapore.

      "This was my chance to show what I'm capable of,– Lawson continued. – No matter how you compete in the youth series, the Formula 1 team wants to see how you will drive a Formula 1 car. And I had this rare opportunity..."

      It so happened that in the last six races of 2024, Liam replaced Daniel in the Faenza team, which changed its name to RB. And soon Red Bull confirmed that Lawson would take Sergio Perez's place and become Verstappen's new team-mate.

       

      "When all this was happening, Daniel and I talked a lot,– Liam said. – I will keep great respect for him forever. Throughout the whole epic, from the beginning of the rumors to the moment when everything was confirmed, he did not say a single bad word about me. There has never been any personal animosity between us, because we did not make the decision.   

      It was the team's decision, and Daniel treated me well in all situations. Fast forward to December: when I got a job at Red Bull, of all the drivers, former or current, he was the only one who congratulated me. It says a lot about him as a person.…

      I know that at the beginning of the year I will have to race on unfamiliar tracks where I have never raced before. But the most difficult thing will be to tame a Formula 1 car that cannot be compared to anything at all. And right now, I'm fully focused on getting to the right level of speed and becoming the driver my team needs."