Calling 2023 a breakthrough year for Liam Lawson would be a hard statement to make, given the foundations already laid for a blossoming career since starting behind the wheel in the New Zealand Formula First Championship in 2015/16.
The 2016/17 New Zealand Formula Ford winner and 2019 Toyota Racing Series champion has quickly made a name for himself in Europe, winning races in Formula 3 and Formula 2, including success on debut in Bahrain in 2021.
He finished third in the 2022 Formula 2 championship, picking up 10 podiums, including four wins, and was promoted to Red Bull reserve driver mid-year following the departure of Juri Vips.
Practice outings in Belgium and Mexico for AlphaTauri and a drive in FP1 in Max Verstappen’s championship-winning RB 18 in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix opening session followed.
Clearly, a Formula 1 seat was calling, but Red Bull opted for Nyck De Vries for 2023, instead sending the Kiwi to Japan to compete in Super Formula with affiliates Team Mugen.
Lawson immediately took the Japanese scene by storm, upstaging defending champion and teammate Tomoki Nojiri for victory on debut. He led by as much as five seconds late in proceedings before a late Safety Car brought the field together, and the race finished under caution.
It was his first outing at Fuji, and his success was the first from a debutant in the series for nearly 50 years.
He finished on the podium places in the following day’s run but was relegated post-race after copping a 5-second post-race penalty for backing off too much under caution as he came into the box. He was classified fifth and left the round second in the standings, behind his teammate.
A challenging qualifying session in Round 2 at Suzuka was overcome with a fourth-place finish in the race, from ninth on the grid, and he was back in the championship hunt as Nojiri crashed out.
The championship leader was absent the next round at Autopolis after sustaining an injury in his crash at Suzuka. Lawson took the advantage, qualifying second and taking the championship lead with a victory.
A difficult round at Sugo followed in Round 5, where he finished fifth and dropped to second in the standings behind race winner Ritomo Miyata.
All was forgiven when the series returned to Fuji, with the Kiwi taking his second 2023 victory at the venue in dominating fashion and moving to within one point of the championship lead.
In the days before the event, AlphaTauri had decided to drop an underperforming De Vries from their roster, with the talk of the paddock being whether it would be reserve driver Lawson or third driver Daniel Ricciardo who got the nod.
The seat went the way of the Australian, leaving Lawson to tidy up unfinished business in Japan with a tight championship battle underway.
He would take the championship lead by qualifying third at Motegi, but a frightening crash that saw two cars go airborne after the Kiwi ran wide and spun in front of the field dropped him from the points.
From here, 2023 and Lawson’s career trajectory would dramatically change, with Ricciardo running into the wall at Zandvoort and breaking his hand in the impact.
Lawson got the nod as the third driver at the track, stepping in to replace the Australian for FP3 and the remainder of the weekend.
Wet conditions, a lack of track time and an underperforming car made for a tricky weekend, and qualifying last made for an even more difficult race. From the rear of the grid, he kept out of trouble to finish a commendable 13th in the rain.
He went on to show good pace in practice at Monza, progressed to Q2 in qualifying and lined up 12th for the race, narrowly missing out on the points in 11th.
History beckoned in Singapore, and a Q3 appearance and a strong race saw him become just the sixth New Zealander to score points in motorsport’s elite discipline. At the time, this was the best finish for an AlphaTauri driver in any race that season.
A trip to Japan was bittersweet for the Kiwi, with AlphaTauri confirming Ricciardo and Tsunoda for their 2024 lineup, leaving the Kiwi as reserve driver for yet another season. Despite this, he qualified 11th and finished in the same place.
As Ricciardo recovered, he filled in for the final time in Qatar, a circuit he had not competed on before and in a car that wasn’t suited to the layout.
He qualified 18th for the race and 14th for the sprint, spinning out and retiring from the latter and coming home 17th in the Grand Prix, having battled extreme heat, stability issues and a lack of car speed.
“It was really tricky out there, he said afterwards. “From the start of the race, we had no speed, and throughout, we were managing some stability issues, so it’s something to analyse. It was very hot, and when you’re struggling with the car, it makes it even harder to extract the pace.
“It seems to be my last race with the team before Daniel comes back, so I want to say a big thank you to the team.”
With Ricciardo back, attention returned to the Super Formula Championship and the final double-header at Suzuka, which he entered eight points adrift of Miyata.
Just four laps of the first run were completed as a high-speed crash damaged catch fencing and saw proceedings unable to resume. Having qualified ninth, Lawson had only gained two places to drop to 15 points off the championship lead, with only half points awarded.
Qualifying on pole for the finale reduced Miyata’s advantage to 12 points, but it was fellow front-row starter Kakunoshin Ohta who stole the show, overpowering all three championship contenders and claiming the win.
Lawson finished second, half a point ahead of his teammate, while Miyata rounded out the podium to secure the title by eight points.
While he may not have a full-time seat in Formula 1 in 2024, the pressure is on Tsunoda, Ricciardo and Perez, who know a star Kiwi is waiting for another opportunity from the sidelines.
The ‘Best of 2023’ series will revisit ten of Velocity News’s most viewed storylines from an incredible year of Kiwis competing abroad.
Header Image: Dutch Photo Agency/ Red Bull Content Pool
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