The epic rise of Liam Lawson, F1’s most unexpected rising star
The latest F1 driver to land a coveted spot alongside Max Verstappen at Oracle Red Bull Racing, 23-year-old New Zealander Liam Lawson, has a lot to prove. And all eyes will be on him as this season’s first grand prix roars into Melbourne.
In his first year karting, aged seven, Red Bull’s Liam Lawson finished last in every race. “Every single one,” the 23-year-old New Zealand-born Formula One driver emphasises, laughing. “I wasn’t even close. I would just drive around in the background and everyone else would drive off in front of me.”
The issue was the equipment. “I think I complained to my dad for more than a year about my kart,” Lawson says. “Eventually, he got sick of me whining and bought two good engines, and we put them on for the first time at this big race. And when we went out, we qualified first. We started racing at the front all the time. That was the definitive moment, when karting became serious. It was always serious to me. But for my dad, everything changed that one weekend.”
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Funding, however, became another issue. To pursue professional racing, let alone think about an F1 seat, is to invest a nauseating amount of money. Local karting calls for thousands of dollars in registration, machinery and travel. Manage to claw your way into F3 and F2 and you’ll be staring down the barrel of several million dollars.
There’s a reason why so many F1 drivers hail from motorsport families. If your father has raced grands prix, he’ll know what it takes to get you there and, crucially, will probably have the means to see it through. Just take Aston Martin’s 26-year-old Canadian racer Lance Stroll, whose father Lawrence owns the whole team, or four-time World Champion Max Verstappen, son of a former F1 driver, or another rookie on this year’s grid, Aussie Jack Doohan, whose father was a world motorcycle-racing champ.
This isn’t to diminish any driver’s singular talent, or lifelong efforts. Billionaire dad or not, there are still only 20 seats available across the 10 Formula One teams. But Lawson learnt that his circumstance was a barrier when he was still in karting. His parents sold their home on Clarks Beach so he could continue racing. “They still don’t own a house,” Lawson says bluntly. “Because of me.”
These days, Lawson’s team is backed by Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer, as well as sunglasses brand Maui Jim, EA Sports, Pirelli and more. But there remain more challenges ahead. The seat he’ll be occupying for the 2025 season, alongside Verstappen, has been the subject of some drama in recent years. Since 2019, three drivers have occupied Red Bull’s second seat before being unceremoniously dumped: Pierre Gasly, now at Alpine, Alexander Albon, who is at Williams and, most recently, Sergio Pérez, who might not even return to the grid.
![“[My parents] still don’t own a house,” Lawson says, “Because of me.”](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/aaa288e5313ae21a716a292da6d296c5?width=650)
And then, there was the matter of Lawson’s appointment, which also came with its fair share of controversy. The Kiwi made his F1 debut when Australian Daniel Ricciardo was axed from Red Bull’s sister team Visa Cash App RB with only six races to go in 2024.
“I actually spoke to Daniel a lot when it was happening,” says Lawson. “I will always have so much respect for him. Throughout the whole ordeal, from when the rumours started to when they were confirmed, he never said a bad word about or towards me. He never made it about me and him, because at the end of the day, it wasn’t our decision. It’s up to the team, and what they decide to do. He was so good to me, through all of it.
“Fast forward to December, when I got the Red Bull seat, and Daniel is still the only driver, past or present, to send me a message about it, congratulating me. It says a lot about him as a person.”
When the first grand prix of the season roars into Melbourne’s Albert Park, then, Lawson has a lot to prove. “All I’m focused on is getting up to speed,” he says, “and being the driver that my team needs me to be.”
Read the full story in the March issue of GQ magazine available in The Australian on Friday, March 14.
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