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Liam Lawson impresses upon debut F1 test

Lawson’s best lap time was 1:24.517 securing Position 2 after 125laps (660.125km)

Lawson’s best lap time was 1:24.517 securing Position 2 after 125laps (660.125km) Liam Lawson, the young Kiwi from Pukekohe, has left a strong impression on team AlphaTauri during his first F1 test.

Drawing on skills honed during his F2 and DTM campaigns, the 19-year-old was able to adjust to the speed of the car well and ranked second fastest during F1’s Young Driver test following the season finale Abu Dhabi GP.  Lawson’s best lap time: 1:24.517 – Position: 2 - Laps: 125 (660.125km)

 

After 125 laps of testing Lawson was blown away by the car and clearly grateful for this opportunity.

 

What an amazing day, it’s incredible how unbelievably fast these cars are. I’ve obviously driven in the simulator before and when I’m there I always think that there’s no way that the car can actually be that quick in real life, but it really is. I want to say a huge thank you to Red Bull, Dr Marko and everyone that has made it possible to be here driving for Scuderia AlphaTauri today. This has been something that I’ve been dreaming about since I was a kid so it’s just incredible and I’m really, really happy.” Lawson said.

It took me a little while to get to full throttle but when I did I thought ‘holy moly that’s a lot of power!’ The biggest difference is just the downforce, there’s significantly more than anything I’m used to.

AlphaTauri’s, Team Principal, Franz Tost was impressed with Lawson’s performance,

“Liam Lawson drove for us today in the Young Driver test and I must say he did a very good job, finishing 125 laps without any issues and his lap time was very competitive. He gave us good feedback throughout the day, we ran a lot of different set-ups with him and have gathered lots of really strong data. This will help us further with the general understanding of the car, whilst we have a new car next year, all the data collected today will nevertheless help us in 2022. Liam did a really great job today”

There will also be future test opportunities for Lawson during the 2022 season. There’s a lot to come together for Liam on his journey to the top, but if he can continue to deliver results like this he will certainly peak interest from those within F1.