Has any other Kiwi driver been given such a huge opportunity as Liam Lawson has heading into the 2019 Northern Hemisphere racing season? Arguably it is bigger than anything ex F1 driver Brendon Hartley had at a similar time in his Junior Red Bull career.
The announcement last week of Lawson to race dual championships in Europe with the backing of Red Bull, gives the 17-year-old a direct path to Formula 2 for the 2020 season, and opportunities beyond. Of course, it is conditional on performance and results.
Having already won the 2019 Castrol Toyota Racing Series, Lawson will head to Europe to compete in the 2019 Formula European Masters (formerly FIA Formula 3 European Championship) as well as the new FIA Formula 3 Championship.
Between 4 May and 5 October he will race in 51 races spread over 17/24 weekends throughout Europe. Not much time off for a teenager!
The eight rounds of the FIA F3 championship will be in support of European F1 rounds – Spain, France, Austria, Britain, Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Russia.
It’s just two years since Lawson won the 2016/17 New Zealand Formula 1600 Championship. Later in 2017 he competed in the Australian Formula 4 Series finishing runner up. Last season he again finished runner up, this time in the ADAC German Formula 4 Championship.
The other unique position that Lawson finds himself in this season is he will gain the experience of three, yes three, top single seater teams. Having competed with M2 Competition for the five round 2019 Toyota Racing Series over January and February, Lawson will contest Formula European Masters (FEM) with Motopark from Germany, and drive for the Dutch team MP Motorsport in the brand new FIA Formula 3 series (previously GP3).
This is another huge opportunity to gain valuable experience from three different team environments, three different engineers and team managers.
There is lots to look forward to and a lot of hard work ahead for Liam Lawson, but the rewards are there for the taking.
Calendar 2019 – FEM & FIA F3:
04-05 May, FEM Hockenheim, Germany
10-11 May, FIA F3 Barcelona, Spain
17-18 May, FEM Zolder, Belgium
07-08 June, FEM Misano, Italy
21-22 June, FIA F3 Paul Ricard, France
28-29 June, FIA F3 Red Bull Ring, Austria
05-06 July, FEM Norisring, Germany
12-13 July, FIA F3 Silverstone, UK
19-10 July, FEM Assen. Netherlands
02-03 August, FIA F3 Hungaroring, Hungary
09-10 August, FEM Brands Hatch, UK
23-24 August, FEM Lausitzring, Germany
30-31 August, FIA F3 Spa, Belgium
06-07 September, FIA F3 Monza, Italy
13-14 September, FEM Nurburgring, Germany
27-28 September, FIA F3 Sochi, Russia
04-05 October, FEM Hockenheim, Germany
Comments