Who is Liam Lawson? Red Bull's latest junior to make F1 debut
The 21-year-old will become the fourth driver to race for AlphaTauri in F1 2023.
It’s an unlikely opportunity for the New Zealand-born driver to show what he’s capable of after missing out previously.
He was overlooked for this campaign as Red Bull opted for Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri, while they went back to Ricciardo when they decided De Vries was not good enough following the 2023 British Grand Prix.
Saturday won't be the first time Lawson has tasted F1 machinery having driven for Red Bull in two Friday practice sessions last year, and he's tested for AlphaTauri in the past.
Lawson’s path to F1
Highly rated in the Red Bull family, Lawson has enjoyed a stellar rise through the junior ranks, reaching new heights in recent years.
He’s been part of the Red Bull junior outfit since 2019, meaning he’s one of its longest-serving members.
While his two years in FIA Formula 3 were nothing special on the surface - a best standings finish of P5 - Lawson’s talent was always apparent.
He won on his F2 debut with Hitech Grand Prix in 2021 in the Bahrain sprint race, with his rookie season ultimately a year of consolidation.
His 2021 campaign in DTM (German Touring Cars) was more noteworthy, only losing out on the title in the final time.
Back in single-seaters, Lawson grew with experience, and his performances were better as he secured third overall in the standings behind runaway championship winner Felipe Drugovich and Sauber junior Theo Pourchaire.
It wasn’t enough to impress Red Bull or Helmut Marko into giving him the AlphaTauri drive, with Pierre Gasly leaving for Alpine.
Instead, Lawson would compete in Super Formula in Japan - a very competitive single-seater series.
Despite a disappointing round last time out, following a controversial incident on the opening lap, he remains in title contention going into the finale.
His 2024 F1 prospects
With two races in quick succession, it’s highly probable Lawson will get the chance to stake his claim to an F1 seat at Zandvoort and Monza.
While in Zandvoort he will only have one practice session to get used to the car, Monza will be a better opportunity to show what he’s made of.
Ironically, Monza is the venue where De Vries impressed the Red Bull hierarchy into signing him as Gasly’s replacement.
De Vries was mighty in his one-off drive for Williams as replacement for Alex Albon, finishing in the points while out-performing Nicholas Latifi.
Even if Lawson is able to do something similar - what are his prospects of a 2024 F1 seat?
Should Perez remain at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen, it’s hard to see AlphaTauri wanting to let go of either Ricciardo or Tsunoda.
Of course, if Lawson was to out-perform Tsunoda in his stand-in races, you never know what could happen.
