127 Facts About Liam Lawson

Liam Lawson was born on 11 February 2002 and is a New Zealand racing driver, who competes in Formula One for Racing Bulls.

Liam Lawson finished runner-up in the 2017 Australian F4,2018 ADAC F4 and 2019 Euroformula Open championships, before winning the Toyota Racing Series in 2019 with M2.

Liam Lawson then progressed to FIA Formula 3 in 2020 before moving to FIA Formula 2 in 2021, where he placed third the following season with Carlin.

Liam Lawson competed in the 2021 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Red Bull AF Corse alongside Alex Albon, finishing runner-up to Maximilian Gotz amidst a controversial finale.

Liam Lawson then competed in the 2023 Super Formula Championship, finishing runner-up to Ritomo Miyata with Mugen.

Liam Lawson made his Formula One debut at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, replacing an injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri for five Grands Prix in 2023, scoring his maiden points finish in Singapore.

Liam Lawson replaced Ricciardo full-time at the re-branded Racing Bulls in 2024 from the United States Grand Prix onwards.

Liam Lawson was born on 11 February 2002 in Hastings, New Zealand.

Liam Lawson was raised in Pukekohe, which was home to Pukekohe Park Raceway, located in the Auckland Region of the North Island.

Liam Lawson's parents sold their house to fund his racing career.

Liam Lawson selected the number 30 as his personal driver number in Formula One, which he had used since age eight in honour of his karting mentor.

Liam Lawson began karting at the age of six, competing in numerous championships across New Zealand, including two karting titles in 2014.

In 2015, Liam Lawson made his single-seater debut in the Formula First Manfeild Winter Series with Sabre Motorsport, taking a win and ten podiums to finish second overall.

In 2017, Liam Lawson moved up to the Australian F4 championship with BRM, taking five wins to finish second in only his rookie season.

In November 2018, Liam Lawson joined M2 Competition for the 2019 championship.

Liam Lawson dominated on debut at Highlands, taking 2 races wins by over nine-seconds each and won the Dorothy Smith Memorial Trophy as a result of winning Race 3.

Liam Lawson had been set to join the inaugural season of the Formula European Masters with Motopark, alongside fellow Red Bull Junior Yuki Tsunoda, but followed the German outfit to the Euroformula Open Championship when Formula European Masters was cancelled due to a lack of entrants.

Liam Lawson won the opening races at Paul Ricard, and in Pau.

Liam Lawson would go on to take two more victories to become runner-up to Marino Sato.

In November 2018, Liam Lawson competed in the season finale of the Asian F3 championship with Irish outfit Pinnacle Motorsport.

Liam Lawson proceeded to dominate the weekend, taking all wins, fastest laps and pole positions on offer to finish eighth in the championship.

In March 2019, Liam Lawson joined MP Motorsport to contest the inaugural championship, alongside Richard Verschoor and Simo Laaksonen.

An impressive qualifying saw him at Silverstone in seventh, and in Race 1 Liam Lawson dropped back to eighth.

Liam Lawson held the lead for nearly half race distance before being overtaken by Leonardo Pulcini and Robert Shwartzman, eventually finishing third.

At the start, Liam Lawson dropped to fourth after being passed by Jake Hughes and fellow Red Bull junior Yuki Tsunoda.

Liam Lawson charged back to eighth, stealing a point after overtaking Max Fewtrell and Christian Lundgaard on the last lap.

Just two weeks after the final round, Liam Lawson was announced to compete at that year's Macau Grand Prix, remaining with MP Motorsport.

Liam Lawson then passed Clement Novalak and David Beckmann to move into the race lead.

Liam Lawson started in eleventh, but a chaotic start saw him up to fourth within a handful of corners.

In Race 2, Liam Lawson lost power on lap 8 and retired with an engine issue.

In Silverstone, Liam Lawson missed out on a pole by 0.058s to Logan Sargeant.

Liam Lawson would turn it around, overtaking Sargeant on the outside of Stowe corner on the opening lap.

Liam Lawson narrowly missed a podium in the second race going wide battling with Pourchaire at the penultimate corner and getting pipped by David Beckmann losing out on fourth by 0.019s.

Liam Lawson had another great qualifying in third for Barcelona, despite an engine issue likely preventing his chances for pole.

Liam Lawson stayed in third until the third last lap, where he overtook Sargeant to finish second.

Liam Lawson claimed seventh for Race 2 and his consistent podium scoring elevated him to third place in the championship.

Liam Lawson eventually finished ninth after being passed by Olli Caldwell on the penultimate lap.

Liam Lawson survived an attack from the start by Matteo Nannini, but he came out with damage to his car following contact with Nannini.

Liam Lawson eventually conceded the lead to Pourchaire on lap 4.

Liam Lawson's race started going downhill from that point, eventually finishing sixth.

Liam Lawson took the Race 2 lead on lap 8, squabbling with Lirim Zendeli.

Liam Lawson crossed the line in second, but after the race, he was demoted ten seconds for forcing Zendeli off-track, and was re-classified seventh.

In Race 2, Liam Lawson led a dominant lights-to-flag victory, winning by eight seconds.

Liam Lawson claimed six podiums including three wins and a fastest lap throughout the season.

In December 2017, Liam Lawson partook in the Mazda Road to Indy Shootout, finishing as the fastest driver but losing out on the scholarship to Ireland's Keith Donegan.

Liam Lawson took part in the 2020 post-season testing with Hitech Grand Prix.

On 15 January 2021, Liam Lawson was announced to be competing in the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship with them alongside Juri Vips.

Towards the last few laps Jehan Daruvala closed on him but Liam Lawson was able to fend off him and thus take his maiden win on his debut.

On his win, Liam Lawson described that "[Daruvala] was a lot faster, I thought he was going to get me".

Liam Lawson made good progress initially, avoiding the chaos at the start and moving up to third by Lap 5.

Liam Lawson finished on the podium in third, after passing Richard Verschoor on the last lap.

Liam Lawson sat 2nd in the championship, but the weekend would turn out to be the best of the season.

On Lap 5, Liam Lawson was able to get back past Piastri, making a heroic overtake on him at La Rascasse.

Liam Lawson would go on to dominate and win by seven seconds.

Liam Lawson was later stripped of his victory for using a prohibited throttle map at the start of the race, handing the win to Dan Ticktum.

Liam Lawson ended the weekend in seventh in the feature race.

Liam Lawson took his maiden pole position at the third round in Baku, forming a Hitech front row lockout.

Liam Lawson demonstrated a fightback in the second sprint, up to 11th on lap 4.

Liam Lawson put up yet another charge, eventually finished sixth.

Liam Lawson made up positions at the start of the first sprint to finish seventh.

Liam Lawson made another comeback, finishing fifth thanks to mishaps and a penalty for drivers ahead of him.

Liam Lawson drove another good race in the second sprint, finishing fourth after a late move on David Beckmann.

Liam Lawson made a superior start in the feature race, passing Jehan Daruvala and Guanyu Zhou on the first lap to second.

On lap 22, just as he was about to overtake Daruvala, a power loss saw Liam Lawson pull out of the race and prevent him from another point-scoring finish.

Liam Lawson finished seventh in the feature race after a slow start.

Liam Lawson was set for a top 10 finish in the second sprint, but on the third last lap, crashed out.

Liam Lawson finished sixth in the second sprint after a late pass on Daruvala.

On 14 January 2022, Liam Lawson announced that he would race for Carlin in the 2022 season alongside American Logan Sargeant.

Liam Lawson made up a position during the start of the feature race, and when leaders were faced with obstacles on their own, Lawson kept his nose clean to take second place.

Liam Lawson was set to continue his podium streak running in third during the feature race, but a loose front-left wheel after his pitstop forced him to retire just before the exit of the pitlane.

Liam Lawson had a below par qualifying in Imola, qualifying only 14th.

Liam Lawson made a great start, moving up to tenth.

Liam Lawson then overtook Ayumu Iwasa and then gained a position following Boschung's retirement, stealing a point in eighth.

Liam Lawson had an electric start in the sprint race, but missed points in ninth.

Liam Lawson had another good feature race start, making up seven positions at the start.

At the Monaco round, Liam Lawson soared to his first pole of the year.

Additionally, Liam Lawson was given a five-place grid drop for the sprint race to start 11th.

In Baku, Liam Lawson secured second place in qualifying, behind former teammate Juri Vips.

Liam Lawson made contact with another rival during the sprint race, sustaining front wing damage.

Liam Lawson was forced to pit for repairs and finished 20th.

Liam Lawson stalled on the starting grid for the sprint race, and his day got worse as his car suffered problems to pull him out of the race.

Liam Lawson followed his win with a sixth-placed finish in the feature race.

Liam Lawson battled to sixth place in the sprint race after making some great overtakes.

Liam Lawson then overtook Ralph Boschung on lap 2 to dominate the field and claim another win.

Liam Lawson made up a place on Vips at the start, but ended the sprint race fourth as he was unable to overtake Hauger.

Liam Lawson had an average start in the sprint race, but fell to 11th.

Liam Lawson was involved in several duels but powered through to finish in sixth place, later promoted to fifth due to a post-race penalty from Richard Verschoor.

Liam Lawson's day got worse as he was spun around by Vips, and sustained front wing damage.

Liam Lawson ended third in the driver's championship with 149 points, whilst claiming four victories and six other podiums.

In February 2019, Liam Lawson joined the Red Bull Junior Team.

Liam Lawson took part in the Young Driver Test at the Yas Marina Circuit at the end of the 2021 season with Scuderia AlphaTauri, driving the AT02.

In March 2022 Franz Tost revealed that Liam Lawson would make his Formula One debut in a free practice session for them during the season.

Liam Lawson made his free practice debut at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix.

Liam Lawson made another FP1 appearance with AlphaTauri at the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix.

Liam Lawson made his Red Bull debut during practice at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Liam Lawson then took part in the post-season tests in Abu Dhabi driving the Red Bull.

Liam Lawson continued as reserve driver for Red Bull and AlphaTauri in 2023.

Liam Lawson made his Formula One debut at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix for AlphaTauri, temporarily replacing Ricciardo after he sustained a broken hand in a crash in Friday's second free practice session.

Liam Lawson finished in eleventh at the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix, ahead of Tsunoda in 12th.

Liam Lawson endured a rough final appearance at the Qatar Grand Prix, where he spun out of the sprint and finished last of the runners during the race.

Ricciardo was well enough to return for the following United States Grand Prix, and Liam Lawson returned to his reserve role.

Liam Lawson continued his role as reserve driver for Red Bull Racing and RB Formula One Team in 2024.

Ricciardo was dropped by RB after the Singapore Grand Prix, with Liam Lawson replacing him for the remaining six rounds of the season.

At the United States Grand Prix, Liam Lawson started 19th due to engine penalties.

Liam Lawson's efforts yielded him ninth place, which received praise from Christian Horner.

Liam Lawson had a contentious battle in the race with Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, and made contact with him, causing Lawson to raise his middle finger at him after passing him a few laps later.

Liam Lawson ultimately finished one place ahead of Perez in 16th, and later apologised as he admitted that it was "not something that [I] should have done".

At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, starting 14th, Liam Lawson attempted a one-stop strategy, but a long second stint left him pitting late and he eventually finished 16th.

Liam Lawson had a miserable Qatar Grand Prix, colliding with Valtteri Bottas in the opening laps which earned him a ten-second penalty.

At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Liam Lawson had another troubled race when his front left wheel was not fitted correctly during his pit stop, forcing him to pit again.

Liam Lawson finished the season 21st in the standings, collecting four points across the six Grand Prix he competed in.

Liam Lawson was promoted to Red Bull in 2025 to replace Sergio Perez, partnering defending four-time World Drivers' Champion Max Verstappen.

Liam Lawson was replaced by Yuki Tsunoda from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards, with Liam Lawson moving back to Racing Bulls to partner FIA Formula 2 runner-up Isack Hadjar for the remainder of 2025.

Liam Lawson finished seventeenth on his return after a strategic error, having qualified fourteenth.

Liam Lawson competed in the 2021 DTM, driving a Red Bull-sponsored Ferrari for the AF Corse team alongside F1 reserve driver Alex Albon.

Liam Lawson was taking part in the DTM concurrently with his first Formula 2 season.

On 19 June 2021, Liam Lawson won the opening race of the 2021 DTM in Monza, becoming the youngest-ever race winner in the series.

However, Liam Lawson's car was damaged in a first-lap collision with van der Linde, which left him lapping 20 seconds off the pace after re-joining the race.

Liam Lawson stated that he no longer intended to remain in the series.

Liam Lawson left F2 at the end of 2022 and contested the 2023 Super Formula Championship with reigning champions Team Mugen alongside two-time drivers' champion Tomoki Nojiri.

Liam Lawson was immediately on the pace during the first race in Fuji, qualifying his Honda-powered car third and becoming the first driver to win on their Japanese Top Formula debut since 1978.

Liam Lawson had a tough round at Sugo, qualifying down in sixth.

However, Liam Lawson spun at the start after running wide while trying to pass teammate Nojiri, and the Kiwi would cause a multi-car pileup which red-flagged the race.

Liam Lawson received a drive-through penalty because his team worked on the car during the red flag, and was left to finish down in 13th place.

Liam Lawson then took his first and only pole for the second race.

Regardless, he was beaten by Miyata to the title and Liam Lawson ended runner-up in the standings with three wins, a pole and another podium, as well as claiming 106.5 points.

Liam Lawson did not continue in Super Formula for 2024, opting to focus on his reserve driver role full-time.