A New Zealand driver who won the Toyota Racing Series, ran in Formula 2 and Super Formula, then took a Red Bull seat before returning to Racing Bulls.
New Zealander Liam Lawson rose through junior single-seaters and the Red Bull system. He debuted in Formula One at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix and has since raced for Red Bull and Racing Bulls, with a best finish of sixth.
New Zealand's Liam Lawson drives for Racing Bulls in Formula One. He won the Toyota Racing Series in 2019, and he finished runner-up in the 2021 DTM and the 2023 Super Formula championship. This profile traces his climb from karting in Pukekohe to the Formula One grid, including his 2025 promotion and demotion at Red Bull.
Who is Liam Lawson?
Hastings, New Zealand is where Liam Lawson began life on 11 February 2002. He joined the Red Bull Junior Team in February 2019, and he made his Formula One debut at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix while driving for AlphaTauri.
He was raised in Pukekohe, the home of Pukekohe Park Raceway. His parents sold their house to fund his racing career.
Lawson has worn the number 30 since he was eight years old, a number he chose in honour of his karting mentor. That mentor was Ken Smith, a three-time New Zealand Grand Prix winner.
A Toyota Racing Series champion who has ridden the Red Bull roller coaster and kept scoring points for Racing Bulls.
How did Lawson rise through karting and the lower formulae?
Lawson began karting in 2008 and took two karting titles in 2014. He made his single-seater debut in 2015, and in that year he finished second overall in the Manfeild Winter Series. The year after, he won the New Zealand F1600 championship with fourteen of the fifteen victories on offer.
In the 2015 New Zealand Formula First championship he finished sixth overall and earned the Rookie of the Year title. The Manfeild series had given him one win and ten podiums before that, a strong start for a driver still in his teens.
In 2017 he stepped up to Australian F4 with BRM, winning five races and finishing second overall. The following year he switched to ADAC Formula 4 with Van Amersfoort Racing, where he won three races and took three poles before finishing runner-up to Lirim Zendeli.
Later in 2018 he dominated the Asian F3 finale, taking all the wins, poles and fastest laps on offer.
What did Lawson win in the Toyota Racing Series and Euroformula?
Lawson joined M2 Competition for the 2019 Toyota Racing Series and won the title with five victories. He clinched it at the New Zealand Grand Prix after a long battle with Marcus Armstrong.
His Euroformula Open campaign that same year ended as runner-up to Marino Sato. Lawson also won the rookies' championship in that series.
How did Lawson perform in FIA Formula 3?
Lawson raced in the 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship with MP Motorsport and finished 11th overall with 41 points. In 2020 he moved to Hitech Grand Prix and finished fifth with 143 points and three wins.
In December 2017 he took part in the Mazda Road to Indy Shootout. He was the fastest driver there but missed out on the scholarship.
Lawson's two 2019 podiums were the only podiums MP Motorsport achieved that year. Lawson also finished seventh in the 2019 Macau Grand Prix for the team.
In 2020 he took his maiden Formula 3 victory at the first Austrian round, and his third win of the year came in the second race at Mugello.
How did Lawson's Formula 2 career go?
Lawson joined Hitech Grand Prix for the 2021 Formula 2 season, finishing ninth overall with 103 points, one win and three podiums. He moved to Carlin for 2022, when he finished third overall with 149 points, four wins and ten podiums.
On his debut in Bahrain he won the opening sprint race, his first Formula 2 victory.
At Monaco a sprint win was taken from him after he was disqualified for using a prohibited throttle map. He later claimed his maiden pole position at Baku in 2021.
In 2022 he won four sprint races, at Jeddah, Paul Ricard, Spa-Francorchamps and Abu Dhabi.
Did Lawson race touring cars and Super Formula?
Yes. In 2021 he raced in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for AF Corse, and in 2023 he competed in the Super Formula Championship with Team Mugen, alongside Tomoki Nojiri. Both results were runner-up finishes, and both came in his first year in the series.
In the DTM he drove a Red Bull-backed Ferrari 488 GT3 and won the opening race at Monza on debut. That made him the youngest-ever race winner in the series' history.
He finished the 2021 DTM season three points behind Maximilian Gotz. Mercedes team orders helped Gotz win the final race at Norisring, and Lawson later described Kelvin van der Linde as the dirtiest driver he had raced against.
In Super Formula he qualified third on debut at Fuji and became the first driver to win on a Japanese Top Formula debut since 1978. His Autopolis win moved him into the championship lead, and the year ended with 106.5 points, one pole, three wins and four podiums.
Ayumu Iwasa replaced him in the Super Formula for 2024.
How did his 2023 and 2024 Formula One seasons compare?
In 2023, with AlphaTauri, Lawson earned his first Formula One points at Singapore after qualifying tenth. In 2024 he took the seat vacated by Daniel Ricciardo, and ended 2024 21st overall with four points.
The 2023 Singapore race ended in ninth place, and his 11th at the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix came later that year.
The 2024 stint brought penalties at the United States and Qatar Grands Prix, and a mechanical retirement at Abu Dhabi. A highlight came at Sao Paulo, where he qualified fifth and finished ninth.
Which qualifying performances stand out?
Lawson's standout qualifying results include a maiden Formula 2 pole at Baku in 2021, a tenth place at Singapore in 2023, and third on the grid at Azerbaijan in 2025. In 2024 he also qualified fifth at Sao Paulo, while in 2025 he started last at China.
At Azerbaijan in 2025 he qualified third and finished fifth, which were his best qualifying and race results to that point in Formula One.
In China in 2025 he began from the back of the grid in both the sprint and the race. The 2025 season therefore included both his best qualifying result and a last-place start.
Racing record at a glance
| Series | Season | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Toyota Racing Series | 2019 | Champion, five wins |
| Euroformula Open | 2019 | Runner-up, rookies' champion |
| FIA Formula 3 | 2019 | 11th overall, 41 points |
| FIA Formula 3 | 2020 | Fifth overall, 143 points, three wins |
| FIA Formula 2 | 2021 | Ninth overall, 103 points, one win |
| FIA Formula 2 | 2022 | Third overall, 149 points, four wins |
| DTM | 2021 | Runner-up, youngest-ever race winner |
| Super Formula | 2023 | Runner-up, 106.5 points, one pole, three wins |
How did his Red Bull Junior and reserve years develop?
Lawson's Red Bull association began in February 2019, when he entered the junior programme. Reserve and test roles followed for both Red Bull and AlphaTauri, and those roles ran through 2021 and 2022, giving him experience of the team's cars before he reached the grid in 2023.
In July 2021 he had his first experience of a Formula One car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, driving a 2011 Red Bull RB7. He then took part in the Young Driver Test at Yas Marina at the end of 2021, in an AlphaTauri AT02.
In June 2022 he was promoted to the reserve role at Red Bull Racing. He made his free practice debut for AlphaTauri at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix and later made a Red Bull debut in practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
What was his first Formula One season like in 2023?
In 2023 Lawson stepped onto the grid at the Dutch Grand Prix, replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri. He qualified 20th and finished 13th, after a ten-second penalty that followed an impeding incident involving Kevin Magnussen in the pits.
Singapore was his breakthrough. He qualified tenth, knocked Max Verstappen out of qualifying and finished ninth, which brought his first Formula One points.
At the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix he finished 11th, just ahead of his AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in 12th.
How did the 2024 season go with Racing Bulls?
Lawson replaced Daniel Ricciardo from the United States Grand Prix in 2024 and raced the final six rounds of the season. He ended the season 21st overall with four points.
At the United States Grand Prix he started 19th after engine penalties and finished ninth. In Mexico City he finished 16th after making contact with Sergio Perez, and in Sao Paulo he qualified fifth and finished ninth.
At Las Vegas he finished 16th, and in Qatar he finished 13th after a ten-second penalty. At Abu Dhabi a mechanical problem forced him to retire with three laps to go.
Why was Lawson promoted and then demoted at Red Bull in 2025?
Red Bull promoted Lawson to its main team for 2025 to replace Sergio Perez, but he was demoted after two rounds. Yuki Tsunoda took his seat from the Japanese Grand Prix, and Helmut Marko later admitted that the team had made a mistake.
The opening round in Australia ended early for him, after he qualified 18th and crashed out of the race. In China he qualified last for both the sprint and the race, and he finished 12th after several disqualifications ahead of him.
Lawson returned to Racing Bulls, where he partnered Isack Hadjar for the rest of 2025.
How has his Racing Bulls form looked in 2025 and 2026?
Back at Racing Bulls, Lawson scored points in several rounds of 2025, including eighth at Monaco, where he helped Hadjar finish sixth. He also finished sixth at Austria, his career-best race result.
His 2025 season had highs and lows. He qualified third at Azerbaijan and finished fifth, but at Silverstone he suffered terminal damage in a collision with Esteban Ocon. At Singapore he finished 15th, nine points ahead of Hadjar in the drivers' standings.
In 2026 he is contracted to remain at Racing Bulls, partnered by Arvid Lindblad. In the second round he scored seventh in both the sprint and the race,.
His 2026 results include ninth in Japan, seventh in Canada and fifth at Monaco, later reduced to sixth after an appeal. He also scored eighth at Barcelona, ninth in Austria and sixth at Silverstone.
Lawson replaced Hadjar at Red Bull for the Dutch Grand Prix and finished seventh in the race after a ten-second penalty. He then scored sixth at the Spanish Grand Prix for Red Bull.
What comes next for Lawson?
His contract with Racing Bulls runs until at least the close of 2026. His record now spans the Red Bull junior system, the reserve and test roles, and a regular Formula One seat.
Those years include Formula 2 seasons, a DTM runner-up finish and a Super Formula runner-up finish. He has also kept a New Zealand connection, having been mentored by Ken Smith from his early karting years.
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