Liam Lawson enjoyed a strong season with Hitech Grand Prix in the 2020 Formula 3 Championship. Photo / Photosport
Liam Lawson enjoyed a strong season with Hitech Grand Prix in the 2020 Formula 3 Championship. Photo / Photosport
It was no great surprise New Zealander Liam Lawson was promoted into F2 for the 2021 season.
Although he didn't win the F3 championship in 2020, the 19-year-old racked up six podium finishes, including three wins. However, three straight race weekends ending in retirements saw him finish fifth in theseries.
His undoubted speed led to F2 testing late last year in Bahrain where he finished the three days with the third-fastest time of the 22 drivers and being the fastest rookie.
"My team Hitech had their first year in F2 last year and did pretty well finishing third," Lawson told the Weekend Herald.
"My teammate Juri [Vips] has had some experience in these big cars and it will be good to learn off him as well. I think I can bring a lot to the team, and it being their second year in the category we should improve a lot.
"F2 has some very experienced drivers and only a handful of rookies this year so it will be a tough championship. There are some new tracks for me so I'm really looking forward to racing at places like Monaco."
Going fast isn't an issue for drivers in international single seater racing, as they've been doing it from an early age. It's getting the most out the car and being able to process all the information flowing in and around the car and from the pits that will be the challenge.
"It's completely different to drive and there's so much more going on. I really like the challenge. After two years in F3 it was time to step up.
"Trying to get the most out the car, and having not driven it before is an advantage and disadvantage. And I don't want to try to overthink things at the moment," said Lawson.
The car is physically quite different from his F3 machine. It's bigger, has a turbo-charged V6 engine and larger rims with low profile tyres.
"Over a lap the F2 car isn't a huge amount faster, it's the horsepower that's the big difference. It's about 300 more than the F3 car. It's twice the size, the steering is heavier [no power steering], the carbon brakes are different to an F3 car and it arrives at corners faster," explains Lawson.
"The way the power comes in is a lot different and you can't be too aggressive coming out of slow speed corners when you're also trying to look after the tyres."
Liam Lawson - driving for Hitech Grand Prix - during Formula 2 testing in Bahrain. Photo / Getty
Now, if that's not enough for Lawson to get his head around, he received a phone call earlier this year telling him he'll also be contesting the German DTM championship. After two years away from the series, Red Bull are back in GT racing with a pair of Ferrari 488 GT3s.
Lawson's teammates are pretty impressive with fellow Kiwi Formula E racer Nick Cassidy (also a Japanese Super GT and Super Formula champion) sharing the second car with former F1 driver Alex Albon.
"That came completely out of the blue. I was in my last week of quarantine and Helmut [Marko, Red Bull] called my manager to ask if I wanted to do it.
"I've only been in a GT3 car once before and that was at the last round of the South Island Endurance Championship.
"It's going to be a new experience and hard to put any expectations on it yet. The cars are really different. People are saying that 'wow' I've Alex Albon as a teammate, but I'm more worried about Nick, to be honest.
"He's so underrated for what he's done," said Lawson.
Unlike previous years, 2021 has three races per weekend instead of two with the final race of the weekend having a mandatory pitstop and tyre change.
Two of the three races will have reverse grid starts.
