Liam Lawson has revealed the influence Shane van Gisbergen has played on his burgeoning motorsport career.
Lawson was thrust into the full glare of F1’s harsh spotlight a week ago when he was asked to step in for Daniel Ricciardo after the Australian broke a bone in his hand during a practice crash in his AlphaTauri ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.
After flying in from Japan on Thursday after competing in the latest round of Super Formula, the 21-year-old was forced to rapidly adapt to a very different environment, despite previous outings in test and practice sessions.
Suggested to Lawson that his previous experience in DTM and F2 would have played a role in helping him to rapidly adjust, he said: “They are obviously very different. It’s not like DTM or Formula 2 specifically helps Formula 1.
“But basically, I guess, I’ve been able to adapt to different things, and done it quite quickly.
“Zandvoort, that was something that was the most challenging for me ever, in that situation, so for sure it helps, having that variety of things to drive.
“I have a close friend, New Zealand driver Shane van Gisbergen, who drives everything, whether it’s dirt, or Tarmac, or cars or bikes, he does everything, and he’s extremely good at adapting to different things. I think it helps.”
Asked by Speedcafe as to how much of a mentor Van Gisbergen had been to him, particularly given the 13-year age gap, he added: “For sure, a lot of the New Zealand drivers have been (a help) to me, and he’s somebody that I was lucky enough to meet quite young.
“But I think also for a New Zealander, it’s very difficult to make it to the top in any direction you go, and obviously motorsport, so we all stay quite connected and speak with each other and that’s quite cool to have those relationships.”
As to the reaction in New Zealand over the past few days, Lawson has been bowled over.
“It’s pretty big, and really awesome to see,” said Lawson.
“I’ve had a lot of messages. A lot of people have followed this journey very closely for a number of years, so it’s definitely something pretty cool for New Zealand.”
It has been a whirlwind week for Lawson since he discovered during last Friday’s drivers’ briefing at Zandvoort that he would be replacing Ricciardo.
He has barely had time to breathe after being thrown in at the deep end at the Dutch track, emerging unscathed from the 72-lap race despite the extremely tricky conditions, and then on to the simulator to prepare for this weekend’s Italian GP before a fast, furious round of media sessions on Thursday at Monza.
Lawson claims he has “not had a huge amount” of time to reflect.
“There’s been a lot of work trying to prepare for this, so that’s taken over everything else,” he said. “This has been completely the focus.”
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