Lawson on “difficult” pathway from New Zealand to F3

Displaying tousled blonde hair and a boyish Kiwi grin, the softly spoken Liam Lawson is part of a new era of Kiwi motor racers. Though less prominent in recent years, the country with a population of just 4.8m has a rich racing history, which perhaps lays rather dormant in the highest class of single-seater racing.

Backed by racing royalty, the Red Bull Junior has been on the pathway to success since first stumbling into the garage of a champion over 10 years ago. The scent of oil stained air and the roar of engines purring away in the background would steal away from significance of where he was. Standing in the soon to be familiar workshop of the man he would come to call his mentor, Lawson was merely intoxicated by the cars that he dreamt of one day racing.

“I first met him when I was very young,” he recalled “I was go karting at the time and I went with a friend to his workshop. I didn’t realise who I had just met until I returned four or five years later.”

It was the workshop of Kenny Smith, a hugely successful New Zealand racing driver who has been a hero and a mentor to many a young Kiwi racer. Brendon Hartley, who raced for Scuderia Toro Rosso, was the country’s last F1 driver and a Smith protégé as well.

“Kenny is definitely one of my heroes,” Lawson asserted. “He’s my mentor and when I went from karting to entry level cars, he was there supporting me and guiding me on the right path.”

Born in Hastings, on east coast of New Zealand, the Red Bull junior grew up with a natural love of cars, “I started making car noises before I could talk,” he says with a wry smile. On the playground at school in New Zealand, children would typically be enjoying classics such as ‘tiggy, ‘handball,’ or ’stuck in the mud,’ whereas Lawson recalls memories of him and his best mate tearing around pretending to be race cars instead.

However, having grown up in the 21st century, the MP Motorsport man was bereft of Formula 1 drivers from his home country to emulate. Denny Hulme, the country’s only World Champion, was way before his time, as were the successful Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon.

Instead, he followed Kiwi drivers from different categories, with the ambition to eclipse them and break into the Formula series.

“Richie Stanaway is someone who I’ve always followed really, really closely,” he explained. “A lot of the people that support me are the same people who supported him. I’ve heard a lot of really cool stories and have had the opportunity to meet him as well.

“Watching Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy and Kiwi's like that too, going up against drivers from around the world and holding their own in the Toyota Racing Series (TRS) in New Zealand.”

From watching his heroes to emulating them, Lawson would later compete in the New Zealand based competition himself and come away as champion. “It was a series that I had watched for a lot of years, since I was very young on TV.

“Even just to race in that was really, really special. I managed to win it and took the Dorothy Smith Memorial Trophy as well, which is named after Kenny's mother - so that was pretty special as well, for a Kiwi it’s cool.”

Now taking part in the newly formed FIA Formula 3 Championship, Lawson has already completed the first major hurdle to reaching the higher echelons of world motorsport, which is to compete within Europe.

The MP Motorsport driver is now one of two New Zealand racers in the F3 series and alongside compatriot Marcus Armstrong, hopes to eventually reintroduce his nation to the world of F1.

“It is difficult coming from New Zealand to race in Europe, it is one of the hardest things that you can do,” he reiterates. “I have known Marcus since I was eight or nine years old, but he is older than me, so he has usually been the age group above me.

“The first time I properly raced him was in TRS, which was pretty cool. It was really, really cool for New Zealand motorsport to have two Kiwi's battling like that. I don't know him maybe as well as I should do, being from the same country, but obviously off track we have friends and I think it should always be like that. Throughout that season, it was quite an intense rivalry.”

The 17-year-old is the youngest competitor within Formula 3 and received Red Bull backing in February, but will need time to get to grips with the powerful 380 HP machines.

The seal of approval from the F1 giants and their support will provide the youngster with the boost and the help he needs to continue to progress.

“That was massive for me. I had a Red Bull junior teammate in TRS and I remember looking over and imagining what it would be like. To get a contract from them was a dream come true and an opportunity that I think all racing drivers aspire to. I really want to take it with both hands and try and make the most out of it.”

The youngster will look to earn his first points of the season in Round 2, when the cars take to the track in France, 21-23 June.