Behind every great Formula One driver is a race engineer, tasked with linking what happens on track to the team in the garage.
From Peter “Bono” Bonnington, the long-serving voice in Lewis Hamilton’s ear, to Chris Dyer doing the same for Michael Schumacher, no driver has ever won a world title without the right race engineer behind them.
In Kiwi Liam Lawson’s case, that race engineer is Pierre Hamelin. Born in France, Hamelin has been a pivotal figure behind the scenes with Red Bull, as race engineer for its junior side since 2014.
Hamelin and Lawson are hardly strangers. The pair were also put together during the 22-year-old’s five-race stint as an injury replacement for Daniel Ricciardo last year after Lawson spent the better part of two years as the team’s reserve driver.
And reunited again to complete this season, Hamelin says he’s been impressed with Lawson’s return to the sport, with points finishes at both Austin and Brazil, off the back of not racing in the 2024 car.
“Liam has settled in impressively quickly and shown a high level of professionalism, without any sign of stress or over-thinking,” he told the Herald.
“I think this was demonstrated well outside our walls with the performances in Austin and Brazil. The sprint weekend format increases the need to be efficient working after a single practice session, and for the driver to get grip of the track quickly. That is something Liam has achieved successfully.
“It must be said that having Liam travelling with us and being part of the group as a reserve driver was a strong milestone. His hard commitment in the simulator to work on the coming tracks and the few testing days where he drove our car were good preparation.
“Maybe even more so than when he drove for us in 2023, Austin and other races, since it felt more like a natural step.”
In short, the race engineer’s role is to be the point of communication between a driver and the rest of the team over the course of a race weekend. Taking in data and information from across the team, the race engineer aids in setting the car up for the weekend, as well as assisting in strategy for the Grand Prix, including what tyres are used when, and monitoring weather conditions that could hinder or help performance.
Race engineers need to have an understanding of how their driver works, and what they’ll need at any given time, be it technical or even motivational.
Firstly with Toro Rosso, then AlphaTauri, and now Racing Bulls, Hamelin has had a front-row seat to some of the team’s best moments, including as race engineer when Pierre Gasly won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 2020.
Aside from Gasly, Hamelin has also worked with reigning world champion Max Verstappen – albeit as a performance engineer as opposed to race engineer – and most recently with Daniel Ricciardo, before he lost his place to Lawson earlier this year.
The Kiwi is locked in for just six races to end 2024 with Racing Bulls, although it is widely understood those are being used as a means of stress testing Lawson to see if he’s ready to move into Red Bull’s senior team next year.
Lawson isn’t Hamelin’s first taste of working alongside a Kiwi driver, either. In 2018, Hamelin was the race engineer to New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley at Toro Rosso, who made the switch to Formula One after years of endurance racing.
That season saw Hartley finish 19th in the championship, and score points at the Azerbaijan, British and US Grands Prix, before Red Bull replaced him with Alex Albon.
And despite the gulf in experience between the two Kiwi drivers, the similarities and differences between Lawson and Hartley haven’t gone unnoticed by the team.
“Something I have noticed and makes me often smile is both very frequently using the terminology ‘copy’ while on the racetrack or in the simulator, when others would use ‘understood’, ‘ok’ or ‘affirm’,” Hamelin explained.
“It rarely creates confusion, but we have happened to be scratching our heads whether that was ‘copy’ for a yes or a no. Brendon, as I have seen with other drivers, was keen to discuss technicalities of setup and engine usage, to draw a picture of what we did before running on track.
“Somewhat due to the age and experience between them, Liam’s current focus is on what he can do better as a driver to extract more performance in all the little things, not only lap time but starts and pitstops also.
“Brendon was strong with race management for tyres, power unit and strategy. Liam has a lot of speed for a single lap in qualifying and superb understanding of the cars’ limits for racing.”
Since his return to Formula One, and given the links to Red Bull’s second seat, the spotlight has been fixed on Lawson’s efforts.
Like many who come through Red Bull’s ranks, patience has proven to be Lawson’s greatest strength, before taking his opportunity when it came.
Already, speculation has become when, not if, he’ll make the next step up into Red Bull’s senior team, and go from just trying to score points to win races altogether.
After a ninth-placed finish at the US Grand Prix in Austin, Red Bull senior team principal Christian Horner said Lawson “looked like a veteran”, having scored points after starting from 19th on the grid. Two races later, Lawson achieved the same result in Brazil, albeit in much different circumstances.
From qualifying fifth, the Kiwi was forced to defend to hold onto ninth, and held off the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez, both of whom were in more competitive cars.
Both of those races came on circuits that Lawson had never raced on before. And although his career is just eight races in, Hamelin expects big things in the years to come.
“Liam is showing a great amount of understanding, control, and performance at a relatively early stage of his F1 career. Although he is very much what we would call a young driver, it is often difficult to remember this when watching him racing and going through the race weekend.
“Several tracks remain new venues, and he is understandably still finding lines and ways of doing things, which will only get better and better from an already very robust start.
“The whole team is pleased with the level of feedback and impressed with which accuracy he feels the cars’ potential or limitations. It fits a strong aspect of what the team is looking for with its drivers to help move the development forward.”
But as the Formula One season reaches its apex, the ramifications of Lawson’s performances are still to be seen. If his six-race stint is truly an audition to step into Red Bull in 2025, he’s hardly put a foot wrong – in terms of sheer results.
In the three races he’s completed, Lawson has bettered incumbent Perez in two of them, in an inferior car.
While Verstappen’s win in Brazil has all but secured a fourth-successive drivers championship, Red Bull’s fortunes in the constructors championship have taken a nosedive.
Having at one point looked odds-on to take the title, Red Bull now trail McLaren and Ferrari to sit third with three races to go. Those struggles can be solely placed at the feet of Perez. While Verstappen leads the championship with 393 points, Perez sits eighth with 151 – in the same car.
Red Bull had a contractual option to sack Perez at the summer break earlier this year but opted to retain him instead, as neither Lawson nor Ricciardo guaranteed immediate improvement.
Since Lawson’s return, though, that equation has changed.
After the Brazilian Grand Prix, Jos Verstappen – father of Max – said he’d be confident in the Kiwi stepping up into Red Bull, sentiments Lawson himself shares.
But while Hamelin agrees Lawson would be ready, viewing it as a competition with Verstappen isn’t the sole determinant of success in Formula One.
“I would focus more on the aspect of stepping up in a championship-winning team, rather than put all the attention on being next to Max,” he said.
“It is natural that the comparison to the teammate comes quickly, and there is no substance to assess it at this moment in time.
“But with what I have seen so far, there is no doubt Liam has the right mindset and skills to perform well at Red Bull Racing.
“Having said that, he is at the start of a great career and will keep learning and improving as we do.”
Red Bull senior adviser Dr Helmut Marko has outlined that a decision over which of Lawson or Perez will partner Verstappen will come after next month’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Alex Powell is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.
The Kiwi beating his world champion teammate isn't the point of his promotion.