About the reserve driver Liam Lawson. Helmut Marko will let him race a few races this year to see if he is capable enough for RBR.
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Lawson ‘the one’ for Marko and Berger
AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer has revealed how Liam Lawson came highly recommended to Red Bull by Gerhard Berger
but that former team principal Franz Tost needed convincing.
Bayer, who took over as team CEO last year, says he remembered “some good racing” from Lawson during his two seasons in F2 whilst working at the time with the FIA.
Speaking to Speedcafe, he added: “For me, the main impulse came through Gerhard who said that when Liam was doing DTM he was bloody amazing.
“Gerhard is a big fan of Liam’s racing style. He said, ‘He’s the one. He’s going for the gap, and he’s fast’.
“Helmut was also very convinced by his natural speed but Franz was initially a bit sceptical. He said, ‘Looking at his results, I’m not sure’.
“If you purely look at the results, he wouldn’t be a standout driver, but he has done a lot of racing, and in different categories, and again and again he was showing there was a spark. Helmut was 100 percent ‘That’s the guy’.
“Franz, Christian (Horner, Red Bull team principal), and I had a long discussion, and that’s how Liam got the reserve role.”
Lawson was taken on as test and reserve driver with AlphaTauri and Red Bull in 2022, before being catapulted into the F1 spotlight last year when replacing Daniel Ricciardo over the Dutch Grand Prix weekend after the Australian broke a bone in his left hand following a crash in practice.
The young New Zealander performed superbly in very tricky conditions, going on to race in a further four grands prix, notably finishing ninth in the Singapore GP, as well as just missing out on points in Italy and Japan.
Bayer was left amazed by how well Lawson adapted, particularly given the ‘huge pressure’ he was under as a rookie.
“You get this one chance in Formula 1, and you want to deliver because there are only 20 seats,” said Bayer.
“I told Liam about my interview (for the AlphaTauri CEO position) with the shareholders. I’ve done so many interviews, and done so much talking in my life, but I was still bloody nervous.
“For these guys, it’s a one-off when they know they have to deliver. They may get one opportunity and that is it.
“Liam said that in Zandvoort he was so f***ing nervous. He said he was like this in the car (shaky hands), but then once he got going, he was alright.
“That’s a racing driver, when suddenly the switch falls and you transform that excitement into performance.
“That’s really where you see the difference with these guys, and that’s what he (Lawson) is absolutely capable of. Put him in the car, that’s the switch, and he goes.”
https://speedcafe.com/liam-lawson-alpha ... rd-berger/
