'I was pretty emotional' – Lawson recalls the surreal moment that 'saved my career'

Liam Lawson has been recalling the moment that he found out he had been signed to the Red Bull Junior Team – and how the call ultimately saved his career, having been facing an uncertain future up until that point.

Back in the early months of 2019, Lawson was competing in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship – then known as the Toyota Racing Series – in his native New Zealand, a series that has attracted some big names from different categories of motorsport over the years including Lando Norris and Lance Stroll.

READ MORE: 5 mid-season driver swaps that paid off – and 5 that didn’t – as Lawson steps up to replace Ricciardo

Speaking during an appearance on Red Bull’s Talking Bull podcast, Lawson detailed how his appearance in the series unexpectedly led to him catching the eye of Helmut Marko.

“As a kid, being into Formula 1, I would watch the series every single year,” the 22-year-old explained. “I dreamed of driving in it, and to me it was like the Formula 1 of racing at the time.

“I finally got to compete in the series after doing my first year in Europe, and it was after the first weekend that basically I had a really strong first weekend. There was a Red Bull driver racing in it at the time, Lucas Auer, he was my team mate, so I guess Helmut was watching because of Lucas racing.

“I had a really good first weekend. I never thought anything like that would happen. Being a Red Bull Junior was something that… I remember the year before I raced in F4 in Europe, and Jack Doohan was a Red Bull Junior at the time.

“We tested together somewhere – [it] might have been Hockenheim in Germany – and I remember seeing him walking around in his Red Bull suit, and I remember thinking that was so cool and how cool it would be to be a Red Bull Junior.

“And yeah, I got the call-up after that first weekend in New Zealand. I found out one or two days after the weekend.”

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Reflecting further on the moment that he received the call, Lawson admitted that it proved to be incredibly surreal.

“I was sitting in a café, I remember exactly where I was sitting,” he continued. “And I remember I couldn’t walk, it was real strange. I got told and I was like… I was pretty emotional but I remember I was like, ‘dude, I’m going to go for a walk’, and I couldn’t really walk properly, it was super weird!

“But [to get signed was] a big achievement. Long story short, being from New Zealand, trying to compete overseas, it’s really, really hard. To get the money to compete overseas is really, really hard.

“So we set out in New Zealand between a group of amazing people that have been behind me – sponsors and investors – we set up this structure to basically get enough money to go to Europe and do a season and try and get recognised by a junior team, because without it there was no chance of getting into Formula 1.

“I did that first season in Europe, and I had a good season but I didn’t have any call-ups from any teams. Now I just did this championship in New Zealand over the off-season, with no plan of what I was doing in 2019, and I got basically picked up at the perfect time and it saved my career.

“Without it, I had four weeks left of that championship and then I had no plan after that.”

READ MORE: From a world champion to a fellow Red Bull reserve – How Liam Lawson’s New Zealand compatriots have fared in F1

Lawson went on to compete in F3 before progressing to F2, where he ended the 2022 campaign in third place of the championship. He then moved to Super Formula whilst also acting as a test and reserve driver for Red Bull in F1.

During 2023, Lawson stepped in to replace Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri for five races after the Australian broke his hand, and the driver from New Zealand promptly impressed with his performances.

Now his chance has come again, with Lawson set to replace Ricciardo at the team now known as RB for the final six races of the 2024 season.