Alpine driver thinks Red Bull star did ‘nothing exceptional’ before F1 breakout

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Alpine junior driver Jack Doohan thinks Liam Lawson showed ‘nothing exceptional’ in his racing career before delivering breakout drives in Formula 1 for AlphaTauri in 2023.

The Faenza squad turned to a Red Bull reserve driver for the second time during 2023 when Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand. Lawson was the second driver to switch the Red Bull garage for a seat in one of AlphaTauri’s cars. Ricciardo had also replaced Nyck de Vries at the team.

Red Bull initially sought to see De Vries break into F1 after snubbing Lawson for the drive for AlphaTauri. Lawson has been in the Milton Keynes team’s junior programme since he was 17 years old. But they shopped from outside of the family rather than promote the 21-year-old.

Daniel Ricciardo’s injury opened a door to F1 for Liam Lawson

Yet De Vries, the 2019 Formula 2 and 2020/21 Formula E champion, drove just 10 Grand Prix in Formula 1. Red Bull axed the 28-year-old after failing to score a single point and recording an average finishing position of 15th. He also retired from the Azerbaijan GP due to damage.

Ricciardo, though, would only contest two Grand Prix before the 34-year-old broke a hand in FP2 at the Dutch GP. Surgery for the injury ruled the Australian out of five rounds before the eight-time Grand Prix winner returned in Austin. He would then see out the rest of the year.

Lawson got the nod to replace Ricciardo at AlphaTauri for his debut on the Formula 1 grid in the Netherlands. The New Zealander showed instant promise at Zandvoort, too, with a P13 finish in tricky weather. He then improved to P11 at the Italian GP, six seconds from a point.

Points awaited Lawson at the Singapore GP, though, as he finished in P9. The Red Bull junior driver even eliminated Max Verstappen from Q2 and also outqualified Sergio Perez. Lawson pipped the 2023 champion by only 0.007 seconds to see Verstappen miss out on the top 10.

Red Bull junior Liam Lawson shone after stepping in at AlphaTauri

Yet while Lawson also took another P11 finish at the Japanese GP in his penultimate race of 2023, Alpine junior Doohan does not feel the Kiwi did anything special before getting a shot in F1 with AlphaTauri. So, Lawson is a great example of the talent that flies under the radar.

“I would like us [junior drivers] to have the opportunity to showcase our talent,” Doohan has told GP Blog. “Junior classes can be masking, unfortunately, as you can see with Liam, with nothing really exceptional in his junior career [and] never really being in a top team.

“So, he wasn’t able to really show exactly how good he was. And since he’s been given the opportunity, by fault of Daniel Ricciardo’s injury, now people can see how good he is. And I believe that I’m in the same position.”

Lawson has only won two junior titles in his single-seater racing career with the 2016/17 NZ F1600 Championship Series and the 2019 Toyota Racing Series. He also finished second in the 2018 ADAC Formula 4 championship and for the 2019 Euroformula Open Championship.

The Kiwi could only finish the 2019 FIA Formula 3 championship in 11th place driving for MP Motorsport. He also ended the 2020 edition in fifth after moving to Hitech, who Lawson also finished ninth in the 2021 FIA Formula 2 series with. Lawson then took P3 for Carlin in 2022.