F1: Liam Lawson confirmed for Grand Prix weekend debut at Spa
Red Bull junior Liam Lawson will take to the track during a Formula 1 Grand Prix for the first time this weekend.
The Kiwi racer, who drives for Carlin in Formula 2, is a Red Bull junior driver and is being given the session as every team is required to give two first practice sessions to junior drivers (regarded as drivers who have taken part in two Grands Prix or fewer).
Lawson took part in the Young Driver Test at the Yas Marina circuit at the end of the 2021 season, driving AlphaTauri’s AT02. With his Grand Prix weekend participation confirmed, the 20-year-old was thrilled to be able to say he’s getting back in an F1 car for the first time in 2022.
“[I’m] super excited to say I’ll be doing my first FP1 this weekend at Spa,” he said, in a video posted to AlphaTauri’s social media.
welcome back to the cockpit @LiamLawson30! ✌️
the young Kiwi will make his official F1 session debut this weekend at Spa 👌 taking over the wheel of Pierre’s AT03 pic.twitter.com/6ZxwbDcPv5
— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) August 23, 2022
“I honestly couldn’t think of a better place to do it, there’s going to be a very exciting feeling. [It’s an] historic track and a place that I’ve always enjoyed driving. So in a Formula 1 car is gonna be incredible.
“I’ve been doing a lot of sim work over the year as well, leading up to this, so I think the prep was really really good and, obviously, I had my first outing last year in December. Since then, honestly, I’ve been dying to get back in the car.”
“So I’m really, really excited – I did my seat [fitting] today,” he said.
“[I] nailed it first try, which is not normal for me, honestly, so just excited to get going!
“The last time I did the seat fit, at the end of last year, I messed up. The first one wasn’t quite perfect, we had to change a few things.
“So normally, I’m quite a perfectionist when it comes to seats. I have a bit of OCD on how symmetrical it needs to be. Today, for the first time ever, it was perfectly symmetrical, and really, really nice to sit in. So that was definitely a success!”