‘My story is crazy’ – Lawson reveals how 'one big overtake' secured him Red Bull junior contract

Liam Lawson has reflected on how performing a “big overtake” in a New Zealand racing series – during a time where his future looked uncertain – led to him unexpectedly catching the eye of Red Bull’s Helmut Marko and subsequently being signed to the squad’s junior programme.

After finishing second in the German Formula 4 championship in 2018, Lawson did not have a contract for any further racing and returned to his native New Zealand where he participated in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship, a category formerly known as the Toyota Racing Series.

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When quizzed about how his journey with Red Bull first began during an appearance on the Pitstop podcast, Lawson responded: “My story is crazy, the way that everything worked out for me from when I was young. I’m extremely lucky.”

The 22-year-old went on to explain how his contract with the outfit first came about as he continued: “[The Toyota Racing Series] used to be really popular – Lando [Norris] did it, Lance [Stroll] did it, a lot of guys have done it.

“It’s five weeks in a row of racing in New Zealand in summertime, in cars that are quite similar to F3, and it’s in the middle of winter time over here [in Europe], so nobody’s doing anything here so everyone just goes there and uses it as a test programme for five weeks as a championship to race in.

“I did it, and going into it I knew that this was my last shot really because we had no plan for 2019, no money to go to F3, there [were] no seats left.

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“So I went into this championship like, ‘I’ve got to somehow pull something out of this’, and after the first weekend we had the contract from Red Bull. It was from an overtake, it literally was one big overtake I did on somebody, and the next day we had the contract.”

Asked if this had been thanks to Marko watching, Lawson answered: “Lucas Auer was doing it, and he was a Red Bull Junior at the time. And I remember, he was my team mate so we rocked up to the first round, and I saw his Red Bull helmet sitting [there] and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so cool – Red Bull driver, Red Bull helmet’.

“So [Marko] would have been watching because Lucas was racing in it, so he watched it and sent through a contract.”

This contract saw Lawson become a member of the Red Bull Junior Team in February 2019 and his career trajectory then took him to F3, F2 and Super Formula, competing in the latter whilst also serving as a test and reserve driver for the Red Bull F1 team.

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His Formula 1 race debut came when he stepped in for an injured Daniel Ricciardo at the Racing Bulls outfit across five Grands Prix in 2023, before returning in the latter stages of 2024 to again replace Ricciardo following the Australian’s exit from the squad.

Now Lawson will make the step up to Red Bull in 2025, where he will race alongside Max Verstappen after Sergio Perez’s departure.

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