Liam Lawson

In 2015, Lawson made his single-seater debut in the Formula First Manfeild Winter Series with Sabre Motorsport, taking a win and ten podiums to finish second. He then contested the NZ Formula First championship with Sabre, earning the Rookie of the Year title. In 2016, Lawson graduated to the NZ F1600 Championship Series, claiming fourteen of the fifteen victories to become the youngest champion in series history — and the youngest Formula Ford champion in the world at the time.

In 2017, Lawson moved to the Australian F4 championship with BRM, taking five wins to finish second in his rookie season. In 2018, he contested the ADAC Formula 4 championship with Van Amersfoort Racing, backed by Turner's, the New Zealand used car network that had previously sponsored IndyCar champion Scott Dixon. He claimed three wins and three pole positions, finishing runner-up behind Lirim Zendeli.

In November 2018, Lawson joined M2 Competition for the 2019 Toyota Racing Series. He dominated on debut at Highlands, taking two race wins by over nine seconds each and winning the Dorothy Smith Memorial Trophy for winning Race 3. Claiming three additional wins across the season, Lawson secured the title at the New Zealand Grand Prix after a season-long battle with Ferrari junior and fellow New Zealander Marcus Armstrong.

Lawson was set to join Motopark for the inaugural Formula European Masters alongside fellow Red Bull Junior Yuki Tsunoda, but followed the team to the Euroformula Open Championship when Formula European Masters was cancelled. Lawson won the opening races at Paul Ricard and Pau, ultimately finishing runner-up to Marino Sato while winning the rookies' championship.

Lawson joined MP Motorsport for the inaugural FIA Formula 3 Championship. He scored his first podium at Silverstone, holding the lead for half the race before being passed by Leonardo Pulcini and Robert Shwartzman. At Monza, starting from the front row in Race 2, he finished second behind Yuki Tsunoda after passing Fabio Scherer and Jake Hughes. In Sochi, he made up ten positions in Race 2 on the final lap, overtaking Max Fewtrell and Christian Lundgaard. He concluded the season eleventh with 41 points. Two weeks later, Lawson competed at the Macau Grand Prix with MP Motorsport, qualifying fifteenth and finishing seventh in the qualification race.

Lawson moved to Hitech Grand Prix for 2020, partnering Max Fewtrell and Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger. He secured his maiden Formula 3 victory in Austria, and at the second Silverstone round overtook polesitter Logan Sargeant on the opening lap for his second win. He scored points in every remaining race from Silverstone onwards and finished fifth in the championship with 143 points, three wins, and six podiums.

Lawson raced for Hitech Grand Prix alongside Jüri Vips. He won on debut in Bahrain, successfully defending against late pressure from Jehan Daruvala. In Monaco, he overtook Oscar Piastri at Rascasse in the sprint to take the lead, but was subsequently disqualified for using a prohibited throttle map — a result he later described as "hard to swallow." In Jeddah, he claimed his first sprint win from reverse pole, swiftly overcoming Calan Williams and Jake Hughes after a safety car restart. He finished ninth in the championship with 103 points, one win, and three podiums.

Lawson switched to Carlin alongside American Logan Sargeant. He began strongly in Bahrain with a double podium. In Jeddah he took his first win of the season. He added victories at Paul Ricard, Spa-Francorchamps, and in the Abu Dhabi sprint. At Spa-Francorchamps, he overtook Ralph Boschung on the opening lap to secure victory and followed it with third in the feature race. He was spun by Vips at Monza, causing front wing damage. He concluded the season third in the championship with 149 points, four victories, and ten podiums.

Lawson competed in the DTM driving a Red Bull-sponsored Ferrari 488 GT3 for AF Corse alongside Formula One reserve driver Alex Albon. On debut at Monza, he won the opening race, becoming the youngest-ever race winner in DTM history. He finished second in both races at the Lausitzring, leading the second race before losing the win during a pit stop. At the Red Bull Ring he secured his first pole position and his second victory, and the following day won again from second on the grid. Heading into the final race at the Norisring, Lawson led the drivers' championship by 19 points over Kelvin van der Linde, with Maximilian Götz a further three points adrift. Contact with van der Linde on the opening lap damaged Lawson's car and left him lapping off the pace; Mercedes team orders enabled Götz to take the victory and the championship by three points. Van der Linde received a five-second penalty for his role in the opening-lap incident, but the championship result stood. Lawson finished runner-up and later expressed dissatisfaction, describing van der Linde as "the dirtiest guy [he's] ever raced against."

Lawson contested the 2023 Super Formula Championship with Team Mugen alongside two-time champion Tomoki Nojiri. He became the first driver to win on their Japanese Top Formula debut since 1978, qualifying third and winning on his series debut at Fuji. At Autopolis he undercut polesitter Sho Tsuboi during the pit cycle and resisted Ritomo Miyata to take the championship lead. In the second Fuji round, he won again and closed the championship deficit to a single point. At Motegi, Lawson spun attempting to pass Nojiri, triggering a multi-car pileup; a drive-through penalty for work carried out under red-flag conditions left him classified thirteenth. Heading into the Suzuka double-header finale trailing Miyata by eight points, Lawson took pole for the second race but lost the lead to Kakunoshin Ota and finished second. He concluded the season runner-up with one pole, three wins, four podiums, and 106.5 points.

Lawson joined the Red Bull Junior Team in February 2019. He drove the 2011 Red Bull RB7 at the 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed and participated in the Young Driver Test at Yas Marina with Scuderia AlphaTauri at the end of that season. For 2022 he served as a reserve and test driver for AlphaTauri, making his free practice debut at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix. Following Jüri Vips' removal, Christian Horner confirmed Lawson had been promoted to replace him as reserve driver. He made another free practice appearance at the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix and a Red Bull debut during practice at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Lawson made his Formula One race debut at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix for AlphaTauri, temporarily replacing Daniel Ricciardo after Ricciardo sustained a broken hand in free practice. With a ten-second penalty for impeding Kevin Magnussen in the pits, Lawson finished thirteenth — ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda — and battled with Charles Leclerc. He also qualified in 20th after limited practice and a spin. AlphaTauri confirmed he would continue replacing Ricciardo. At the Italian Grand Prix, he qualified twelfth and finished eleventh. At the Singapore Grand Prix, he qualified a career-best tenth — notably eliminating championship leader Max Verstappen from Q2 — then fended off Alex Albon in the final laps to finish ninth, scoring points for the first time in Formula One and becoming the second AlphaTauri driver that year to score. He finished eleventh at the Japanese Grand Prix, ahead of Tsunoda in twelfth. After a rough Qatar Grand Prix, Ricciardo returned for the United States Grand Prix and Lawson reverted to his reserve role.

Ricciardo was dropped by Racing Bulls after the Singapore Grand Prix; Lawson replaced him for the remaining six rounds. At the United States Grand Prix, starting nineteenth due to engine penalties and running a long stint on hard tyres, Lawson jumped teammate Tsunoda in the pit stops to finish ninth, drawing praise from Christian Horner. At the São Paulo Grand Prix, he qualified fifth in a rain-hit session — two places behind Tsunoda — and finished ninth in the race after being spun by Oscar Piastri on lap 26. Lawson finished the season twenty-first in the standings with four points.

Lawson was promoted to Red Bull Racing for 2025 to replace Sergio Pérez, partnering defending four-time World Drivers' Champion Max Verstappen. At the Australian Grand Prix, he qualified eighteenth and crashed out in changing conditions. He qualified last for both events in China, finishing fourteenth in the sprint and twelfth in the race after disqualifications ahead of him. Red Bull opened discussions to replace him with Tsunoda after those two rounds. Team adviser Helmut Marko later admitted Red Bull "made a mistake" in their decision to promote Lawson, adding that he "lost confidence and [couldn't] show his real potential."

Lawson was replaced by Tsunoda from the Japanese Grand Prix, moving back to Racing Bulls to partner Isack Hadjar for the remainder of 2025. He received penalties in the first two races back — collisions with Lance Stroll and Nico Hülkenberg at Bahrain, and a 10-second time penalty at Saudi Arabia. He retired from the Miami main race due to floor damage. He scored his first points of the season at Monaco, where he played a key role helping Hadjar finish sixth and claimed eighth himself. He scored a career-best sixth at the Austrian Grand Prix. He sustained terminal damage after colliding with Esteban Ocon on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix. He finished eighth at both the Belgian and Hungarian Grands Prix, holding Verstappen behind him at the latter. At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, he broke both his qualifying and race finish records — qualifying third and finishing fifth. At the Singapore Grand Prix he finished fifteenth, remaining nine points adrift of Hadjar in the standings. Lawson is contracted to remain at Racing Bulls in 2026, partnered by rookie Arvid Lindblad.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.