DTM
Rookie Liam Lawson was a sensation in DTM, but the 19-year-old says he's leaving the series and looking forward to a bright future that begins with an F1 test.
Red Bull Junior Team driver Liam Lawson took DTM, Germany’s GT racing series, by storm this year, the 19-year-old rookie sensation sweeping to victory in his Ferrari and rising to the top of the drivers’ championship.
The season ended in controversy, as the established drivers converged to deprive the young New Zealander of the title. While disappointed, Lawson won’t let the result distract him from his quest to be on the Formula One grid of the future. He’s leaving DTM and looking forward to a bright future in Formula Two in 2022 and an F1 test drive with Scuderia AlphaTauri.
01
The background: what happened in the DTM 2021 season?
The Kiwi was paired with F1 driver Alex Albon (although he was joined by GT star Nick Cassidy in the final round to make it an all-New Zealander line-up) in Ferrari 488 GT3s prepared by AF Corse, themselves newcomers to the competition. The team were quick both on track and off, being able to pull off F1-style pit stops to get ahead of the pack, stunning the grid by winning the opening race of the season at Monza. Back-to-back victories in Round Five at the Red Bull Ring put the consistent Lawson squarely in the championship chase.
He arrived at the final race weekend at the Norisring leading the title race, put the car on pole – and that’s when it all went wrong. ABT Audi racer Kelvin van der Linde collided with Lawson at the first corner in both Race One and Race Two. The first time, Lawson was still able to reach the podium, but in Race Two, the collision damage was so severe that Lawson had to limp to the finish line. Meanwhile, Mercedes used team orders to smooth Maximilian Götz’s passage to victory and the championship.
In the aftermath, an emotional Lawson called van der Linde ‘the dirtiest guy’ he had ever raced against. (Van der Linde apologised a few days after the race). Now the dust has settled, the rookie reflects on his time in DTM and the road ahead…
02
Looking back, how do you feel about your experience in DTM?
I really enjoyed my DTM campaign, it was really so much fun. A lot different in many ways to what I'm used to. The season as a whole was fantastic and I'm really proud of the whole team, but the way the season finished, wasn’t something I expected or saw coming.
03
It all started so well. On your debut, you became the youngest winner in DTM history. Talk us through it and your feelings after the race.
It was my first race in DTM, in fact, my first race in GT/touring cars, so I went into the weekend with no real expectations. We’d qualified in sixth, so we weren’t looking to win the race and in all honestly it was a bit of a shock to win. We surprised ourselves so it was all a bit surreal. But once it sank in, we realised we were in a good position to fight for championship.
04
What was the key moment for you in the championship? When did you realise you could be a DTM master?
That first win was a key moment for me. That’s when I knew we were on to something. I had a good feeling even before the season began because as soon as we started coming together as a team during testing. Even though I didn't know how fast would be, I knew how well we worked together. When I saw how quick we were in that first race I knew we were in with a chance to fight for the championship.
I had a good feeling even before the season began
05
Europe is a long way from home. What’s the response been like in New Zealand?
The support from home this year has been crazy. It’s been building up and up and up over the years, but it’s grown this season and especially in the last couple of rounds. I've had some amazing messages of support from people who’ve been watching all season. It’s really, really cool.
06
What is the spirit like in the Red Bull AF Corse team garage?
The team were awesome this year. I've never been in a team where I felt like I was part of a family. Every single one of the guys in the garage is so passionate. They all wanted to win as much as I did. Working with this team made me feel less like a junior. I was treated a bit more like a professional and that side of it was awesome. I really enjoyed that. And the work ethic from everybody was just crazy. They really gave everything.
The team were awesome this year. I've never been in a team where I felt like I was part of a family. Every single one of the guys in the garage is so passionate. They all wanted to win as much as I did
07
What was the biggest challenge about racing in DTM?
The biggest challenge was the Balance of Performance rules – especially the success ballast. It mixed up the order quite a lot, but it meant that if you did well you had to carry extra weight, so every weekend you had to adjust to different changes with the car, and often had to figure out how to drive around that. At the first race of the year in Monza, we had a big BoP change and were given success ballast, so I went into Race Two expecting a sort of similar pace to Race One and it wasn't even close. I didn't really know how to handle it and ended up crashing. So getting used to the BoP changes was the most difficult thing.
08
What was your favourite race?
My favourite race this year was Race Two at the Red Bull Ring. It was a really challenging race. I had 25 kilos in the car and I had Marco [Wittmann] behind me. The hardest car to defend from has to be a BMW because they had really good-straight line speed, especially at that point in the season. So Marco was really, really quick and tough to defend. That was probably the best race of the year. I would say Race Two in Assen is almost on par, when I was trying to chase down Lucas [Auer] for the win in the last couple laps. That was pretty epic.
09
You won both races at the Red Bull Ring. Do you think your experience of winning there in F3 and F4 gave you an edge?
No, I’ve raced at the Red Bull Ring before, but I’ve raced at a lot of tracks. I think the Red Bull Ring just suited our car. What was key to the race was that we’d been testing there the week before. Coming into that round, we'd slipped quite far behind in the championship and we knew we needed to quickly make up points. So we worked really, really hard in the test and that was what made that weekend so successful.
Overall speed is not as quick, but the car feels a lot nicer because, well, it’s a Ferrari!
10
How do the GT3s compare with other cars you’ve raced?
Overall speed is not as quick, but the car feels a lot nicer because, well, it’s a Ferrari! All the cars are supercars and they’re all really well designed. When you build a supercar, there’s no expense spared and as a driver you really feel that everything works so well inside the car. I wasn't a big fan of the driving aids at the start, but after a while I quite liked the fact that you had traction control and ABS at your disposal. And that’s all very different to what I’m used to.
What was it like having Alex Albon as a team-mate?
Having Alex here was really cool. He’s someone I look up to and I’m trying to follow in the same footsteps. What’s perhaps most impressive is his feedback. I learned a lot from listening to him talk about how he felt with the car. He’s always really descriptive and articulate. And there was a lot of times, especially on the long drives to the airport, where we’d just chat about Formula One and motor racing and he gave me a bit more of an understanding about the way the world works in F1.
Alex gave me a bit more of an understanding about the way the world works in F1
What's the next step for you?
It’s not completely up to me, but it won’t be in DTM. I loved racing the DTM this year even though it was not the ending we’d hoped for. But I'm really proud of the whole team the way we work this year and I really enjoyed the experience.
What next for Liam Lawson?
Next season, Liam will be racing full time in Formula Two, the F1 feeder series, but before that he'll be taking part in the young driver test in Formula One as part of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Helmut Marko, Red Bull Motorsports Advisor and Head of Driver Development, is hopeful that Lawson will also get an outing in one or two Free Practice sessions in F1. The first step on that journey will be a visit to the AlphaTauri factory in Faenza, Italy, for a seat fitting later this week.
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