Liam Lawson

Born in Hastings but raised in Pukekohe, Lawson began karting at the age of seven, competing in numerous championships across New Zealand, including two karting titles in 2014.[5][6][7][8][9]

In 2015, Lawson made his single-seater debut in the Formula First Manfield Winter Series with Sabre Motorsport, taking a win and ten podiums to finish second overall.[10] A few months later, he joined Sabre to contest the NZ Formula First championship, taking a win and three podiums on his way to sixth in the championship and the Rookie of the Year title.[11][12][13] The following year, Lawson graduated to the NZ F1600 Championship Series.[14] There he dominated proceedings, claiming fourteen of the fifteen victories on offer to become the youngest champion in not just the series' history, but the youngest ever Formula Ford champion in world at the time.[15]

In 2017, Lawson moved up to the Australian F4 championship with BRM, taking five wins to finish as vice-champion in only his rookie season.[16][17] The following year, Lawson remained at Formula 4 level, moving across to contest the ADAC Formula 4 championship with Van Amersfoort Racing and received backing from Turner's, the New Zealand used car network that had previously sponsored IndyCar champion Scott Dixon.[18][19] Claiming three wins and three pole positions, Lawson's performances saw him claim his second consecutive F4 vice-champion position.[20]

In November 2018, Lawson joined M2 Competition for the 2019 championship.[21] 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.[22][23] Claiming three additional wins across the season, Lawson secured the title at the New Zealand Grand Prix after a season long battle with Ferrari junior and fellow countryman Marcus Armstrong.[2]

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.[24][25][26]

In November 2018, Lawson competed in the season finale of the Asian F3 championship with Irish outfit Pinnacle Motorsport.[27] He proceeded to dominate the weekend, taking all wins, fastest laps and pole positions on offer to finish eighth in the championship.[28][29]

In March 2019, Lawson joined MP Motorsport to contest the inaugural championship.[30] The season saw him claim two sprint race podiums at Silverstone and Monza and end the championship eleventh overall.[31][32]

The following year, Lawson switched to Hitech Grand Prix, joining fellow Red Bull Junior Dennis Hauger.[33] Lawson recorded his first victory in the Austrian race.[34]

In February 2019, Lawson was named as a new recruit to the Red Bull Junior Team.[3]

In December 2017, 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.[35][36][37]

Lawson competed in the 2021 DTM, driving a Red Bull-sponsored Ferrari for the AF Corse team alongside F1 reserve driver Alex Albon. He was taking part in the DTM concurrently with his first Formula 2 season.

On 19 June 2021, Lawson won the opening race of the 2021 DTM in Monza, becoming the youngest-ever race winner in the series.[38] After a spin in the second Monza race cost him a points finish, he finished second in both races at the Lausitzring in the next round, where he was leading the second race until a problem in the pits cost him a win.[39]

After failing to score points in three of the four races in the next two rounds, he got his second victory in the DTM on 4 September 2021 in the first race of the fifth round at the Red Bull Ring, which also marked the first time he started a DTM race from pole position.[40] The following day, he went on to claim his third victory in the DTM by winning the second race at the Red Bull Ring after starting from second position.[41]

After four podium finishes and a fourth-place finish in the next five races, Lawson qualified on pole position for the final race of the season at the Norisring. Prior to the start of the race, he was leading the drivers' championship by 19 points ahead of Kelvin van der Linde in second and 22 points ahead of Maximilian Götz in third, respectively.[42] However, 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. Towards the end of the race, Mercedes gave team orders to Lucas Auer, who dominated the race, and Philip Ellis to allow Götz to claim the lead and secure his third win of the season, which put him three points ahead of Lawson in the final standings for the drivers' championship.[43] After the race, Lawson was visibly disappointed with his second-place finish in the drivers' championship. He said he was "pushed off" by van der Linde and called the South African "the dirtiest guy [he's] ever raced against." Van der Linde was given a five-second penalty for the manoeuvre, prior to receiving a puncture in another battle with Götz in the closing stages of the race.[44]

Lawson competed in the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship as part of the Hitech Grand Prix team alongside Jüri Vips.[4] He finished first in the debut race of the season in Sakhir, Bahrain.[45] Lawson then went on to win the second sprint race in Monaco but was later stripped of his victory for using a prohibited throttle map at the start of the race, handing the win to Dan Ticktum. [46] Lawson finished 9th in the championship, with 103 points. During his maiden campaign, he scored 1 win and 3 podiums.

On 14 January 2022, Lawson announced that he would race for Carlin in the 2022 season alongside American Logan Sargeant.[47] [48]

* Season still in progress.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

^‡ Half points were awarded, as less than 75% of the scheduled distance was completed.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

^† Driver did not finish the race, but were classified, as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

* Season still in progress.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)