Liam Lawson has made a good name for himself in the F1 circle in 2023. He will be the reserve driver for AlphaTauri and Red Bull going into the new F1 season, after showing stand-out performances in four races last year. However, AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer revealed that it wasn’t straightforward for Lawson to get the drive and his current role. Ex-team boss Franz Tost was not convinced with the Kiwi driver, courtesy of his results, despite Christian Horner and Helmut Marko thinking otherwise.
Speaking to SpeedCafe, Bayer stated, “Helmut [Marko] was also very convinced by his natural speed but Franz [Tost] was initially a bit skeptical. He said, ‘Looking at his results, I’m not sure.”
Bayer explained that purely looking at results, Lawson doesn’t seem to a be stand-out driver. Thus, there is logic from the statistical point of view in Tost’s judgment. However, a driver with average statistics needs to be able to match and beat the best.
Horner and Marko knew that the 21-year-old had been racing in multiple categories. Lawson raced for the Red Bull AF Corse team in DTM in 2021. Thus, they had an understanding of how quick the New Zealander was.
Bayer also cited the same point of the variety in Lawson’s racing portfolio. If one looks at his F2 statistics, the Kiwi has not been a breakout star in his two seasons, which leans toward Tost‘s view. However, Bayer recalled that he did some good racing during this time both in DTM and in F2.
After a long discussion with Horner and Bayer, Tost was finally convinced to give Lawson a shot. And the Red Bull prodigy did not disappoint. Given a limited amount of races, after Daniel Ricciardo got injured, he made the most of it.
How did Liam Lawson convince everyone of his potential?
Jumping into the car on short notice, Liam Lawson had an uphill task in one of the slowest cars on the grid. Still, he went to work to have a decent debut race in Zandvoort, that too in changeable conditions. Following this, in just his third race in Singapore, the Kiwi driver scored points too.
It was a memorable weekend for Lawson as he got into the news for eliminating Max Verstappen in Q2. The P9 finish in an AlphaTauri car then turned a lot of heads which was the cherry on top on a tough weekend for all other Red Bull drivers.
This small yet successful stint of races has put the 21-year-old hat in the ring for a Red Bull or AlphaTauri seat in the future. While the Faenza outfit has retained Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda for 2024, Lawson is not completely out of the picture.
With Sergio Perez’s future uncertain amid inconsistent form, there are chances Ricciardo may replace him at RBR. This opens the door for Lawson to take the vacant seat at AlphaTauri. With the kind of performances Liam showed in 2023, the Red Bull and AlphaTauri bosses won’t hesitate to sign the Kiwi driver next time around.
