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Following an excellent karting career, Lawson then enjoyed early success in his formative open-wheel years, competing in a variety of series, finishing second in the Australian Formula 4 championship in 2017, and runner-up again the following year in the main F4 championship.
After being signed to the Red Bull junior team at the start of 2019, the transition to F3, however, was less successful as Lawson finished 11th in his debut campaign with MP Motorsport, although was runner-up in the Euroformula Open Championship, and winner of the Toyota Racing Series.
Switching to Hitech Grand Prix for 2020, Lawson won three races en route to finishing fifth in the standings, whilst he was second in the Toyota Racing Series, missing out on retaining his title by six points.
In 2021, Lawson dovetailed his maiden F2 campaign with Hitech by racing in the DTM series for Red Bull AF Corse where he shone in former F1 driver Berger’s eyes, albeit again missing out on title honours by a mere three points after a farce of a final race – not of his own making – in which he went into it as the leader.
Long-time Red Bull ally Berger, who won 10 grands prix during a 14-season F1 career, had seen enough over the course of the year to be convinced Lawson was a star in the making. Close friend and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was also convinced.
Bayer, who took over as team CEO last year, says he remembered “some good racing” from Lawson during his two seasons in F2 whilst working at the time with the FIA.
Speaking to Speedcafe, he added: “For me, the main impulse came through Gerhard who said that when Liam was doing DTM he was bloody amazing.
“Gerhard is a big fan of Liam’s racing style. He said, ‘He’s the one. He’s going for the gap, and he’s fast’.
“Helmut was also very convinced by his natural speed but Franz was initially a bit sceptical. He said, ‘Looking at his results, I’m not sure’.
“If you purely look at the results, he wouldn’t be a standout driver, but he has done a lot of racing, and in different categories, and again and again he was showing there was a spark. Helmut was 100 percent ‘That’s the guy’.
“Franz, Christian (Horner, Red Bull team principal), and I had a long discussion, and that’s how Liam got the reserve role.”
Lawson was taken on as test and reserve driver with AlphaTauri and Red Bull in 2022, before being catapulted into the F1 spotlight last year when replacing Daniel Ricciardo over the Dutch Grand Prix weekend after the Australian broke a bone in his left hand following a crash in practice.
The young New Zealander performed superbly in very tricky conditions, going on to race in a further four grands prix, notably finishing ninth in the Singapore GP, as well as just missing out on points in Italy and Japan.
Bayer was left amazed by how well Lawson adapted, particularly given the ‘huge pressure’ he was under as a rookie.
“You get this one chance in Formula 1, and you want to deliver because there are only 20 seats,” said Bayer.
“I told Liam about my interview (for the AlphaTauri CEO position) with the shareholders. I’ve done so many interviews, and done so much talking in my life, but I was still bloody nervous.
“For these guys, it’s a one-off when they know they have to deliver. They may get one opportunity and that is it.
“Liam said that in Zandvoort he was so f***ing nervous. He said he was like this in the car (shaky hands), but then once he got going, he was alright.
“That’s a racing driver, when suddenly the switch falls and you transform that excitement into performance.
“That’s really where you see the difference with these guys, and that’s what he (Lawson) is absolutely capable of. Put him in the car, that’s the switch, and he goes.”
