Rival F1 boss on Lawson and life on the road

By Christopher Reive

When Liam Lawson deputised for an injured Daniel Ricciardo in five Formula 1 Grand Prix races last year, he showed he was ready to compete at the highest level.

Taking the wheel for Red Bull Racing’s sister team AlphaTauri (now known as Visa CashApp RB), Lawson consistently beat his teammate Yuki Tsunoda. His ninth-placed finish in Singapore was not only his first two points in F1, but at that point of the season – the 15th event - it was the best individual finish any driver had achieved for the team.

While Lawson was not rewarded with a seat for 2024, instead re-signing with Red Bull as the reserve driver for both teams, it seemed only a matter of time before he would crack the grid.

And it’s not just fans and pundits who think he wouldn’t be out of place there. Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s D’Arcy Waldegrave, McLaren boss Zak Brown said he believed Lawson would do a job on the F1 circuit.

“He’s a good talent. I think it would be great to see him in F1 next year,” Brown said.

“Hopefully he’ll get his shot because he can get the job done, that’s for sure.”

Brown has an eye for quality young drivers. McLaren is currently represented by Brit Lando Norris and Australian Oscar Piastri in F1; Norris having been a fulltime driver for the team since 2019 when he was 19, while Piastri, 22, completed his debut campaign in 2023. Both drivers are signed with McLaren until the end of 2026.

But it goes beyond the F1 grid. 20-year-old Kiwi Ryan Wood is currently competing in Supercars for Brown’s Walkinshaw Andretti United team. The two series are running in Melbourne this weekend, with Brown in town to take in the action.

Coming into the F1 stop in Australia, the third event of the season, McLaren sit third in the Constructors’ Championship standings, while Piastri sits fifth in the Drivers’ Championship with 16 points and Norris in eighth with 12 points.

Despite not yet getting on the podium, it’s been a strong start to the campaign, though Brown was realistic about the team’s targets this season.

“I think we can continue to race where we’re hanging out now - P3 in the championship,” Brown said.

“We’re going to work hard. P1, realistically, Red Bull continue to be in a league of their own, but we can give Ferrari a run for their money. That being said, Mercedes and Aston [Martin] are going to be very tough.

“You’ve got one team at the front that seems pretty unbeatable at the moment, but we came close at the second half of last year. Between us, Mercedes and Ferrari, I think we’ve got to continue to pay attention to Aston Martin, they’re certainly there or there abouts, so it’s going to be an exciting season for the fans.”

As for what has made Red Bull such a formidable team over the last few years, Brown couldn’t put it down to just one thing.

“These things are always team efforts. I think it’s technical leadership, and [chief technology officer] Adrian Newey and his team seem to have a bit of a magic pen when it comes to drawing high-performance race cars,” Brown said.

“The whole field is separated by less than three per cent so what looks to be a huge gap on the racetrack in reality is a very small incremental difference. Ultimately the tyre wear and their race pace in impressive, they’ve got a really balanced race car and Max Verstappen, in particular, seems to be getting the most out of it.”

Verstappen – the three-time and reigning World Champion – leads the standings with two races wins from as many events this year, with his teammate Sergio Perez second, having finished only behind his teammate in each race.

There is still plenty of racing to be had before things shake out this season, with the Australian stop being number three of 24 events on the calendar.

The 2024 calendar has two additional races, with F1 returning to China for the first time since 2019 as well as the return of the Emilia Romagna GP in Italy, which was cancelled due to flooding in the area last year.

Brown said with such a hectic schedule, McLaren were working on ways to make things a bit easier for those involved in the team including exploring an element of rotation.

“It’s long, it’s a lot of travel. It’s a fun life, but it’s a tough life for those who attend all 24 races. We’re starting to look at do you do some element of rotation? You need to make sure you’re making sure of people’s mental and physical health,” Brown said.

“But not just those at the racetrack. It’s the families that you need to make sure you’re looking after as well. We have some fun programmes to make sure the families know they’re very much part of our racing team, but it is tough, it’s getting tougher, and it’s constantly under evaluation of what’s the best way to have some element of work-life balance when you’re living on the road racing grand prix cars.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission