How Liam Lawson Made It to F1 From New Zealand

I was introduced to Liam by a man named Grant McDonald. He used to own a magazine called Speed Sport, which no longer exists. But he used to somewhat mentor and assist young drivers, and it was a motorsport magazine. And he mentored Liam in the early days and gave him a scholarship to get into racing cars afterward. go-karts. So the way the motor racing thing works is, you know, you start out with karting and if You're good at karting, you move up to cars and so on. So Liam's had a lot of help. I mean, his parents basically gave everything they had— all their money and all their time—to, You know, to get him to that level. They burned the boats. They certainly did. Yeah, they burned everything. And you know, he's one of, I think, four kids. So, You know, the family sacrificed quite a lot to get him there. And then Grant gave him a scholarship. to run into Formula Vee, which is a type of low-level car racing. And then he moved on to Formula Ford and he won the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship. And if you know anything About Formula One, virtually every Formula One driver has driven a Formula Ford. Just the a rite of passage kind of thing to do that. And Liam won the championship, and he was the youngest winner in the history of New Zealand. Well, not in New Zealand, but in the world. He was the youngest in the world. I think he won it when he was 15. And that's when I met him. So Grant MacDonald came and saw me and said, I've helped a few guys in the past. And he said, look, I know you've helped people in the Past, but I've got this kid and I've nothing in it for me, but I think he's really, really good. Do you want to help him? I don't know. I'm tired of spending money on it. Did you say no right away? I did. I sort of said, I don't know. It was a bit vague about it. He said, well, Would you like to meet him? I said, sure, sure, bring him in. So a couple of weeks later he came. and he was only 15 years old, but very engaging, you know, great personality. So not only could he drive a car, you know, drive a car really well, but he just had a good personality, spoke well, He was intelligent and articulate. I kind of thought, you know, he's pretty much the whole package. And they said, look, he has a deal that allows him to race in Formula 4 in Australia, but We don't have enough money even to put him on a plane to go there. Would you pay for this? You know, it's not much money. So I said, yeah, sure. And that was the beginning of it. And then, since that time, a lot of other people became involved, but we had a partnership, like a limited partnership, which raised money for Liam. So I was the chairman of that. partnership. There are two other guys involved in that. And we went out and raised money for him. I mean, I think we would have raised out of New Zealand, probably seven or eight million dollars, something like that. to fund his career. And, you know, we helped him secure the Red Bull contract and everything that went with it. Stuff. One of the guys in the partnership was a lawyer. So we did the work on the Red Bull. contract for him and all that sort of thing. And obviously he's in Formula 1 now. So the The partnership thing has largely faded away because he no longer needs any of that stuff. But I still have a lot to take care of with him because he's earning money now instead of spending it. So I help him with his finances. I talk to him quite regularly. I was talking to him this Morning, talking about Spa coming up and stuff. Yeah, so yeah, I just kind of help him out and act as a mentor. on all sorts of things, money. And, you know, his life has just completely changed. You know, you go from from being just an ordinary guy in New Zealand to becoming world-famous. And, you know, it takes a lot to cope with that. He's still only 24. Do we as a New Zealand public and sporting public sort of misunderstand or even fail to comprehend the world he's operating in? I don't think so even understand, you know, or not really. You know, the fan base is so massive. I think there's Seventy or eighty million people watch each race. So, you know, there's just a large group of people. And he's truly world-famous. I mean, you walk down any street anywhere with him, you know, It's photographs and autographs. And, you know, when he was back here and it was over Christmas, I had to go to the accounting firm that handles his affairs with him. And we had this kind of plan. to go into Pricewaterhouse. We had this plan to go to Pricewaterhouse. They have something like a private car park. So they said, we'll give you this tag, and you go into the private car park and you go in the private lift and no one's going to see you. And so we do all that. We get in the car park, Press the button on the lift and the doors open, and there's a girl inside. And she says, Oh my God, it's you. And she was just so starstruck. She couldn't even talk. She was Standing there, you know. So it's crazy. And then we get into Pricewaterhouse and, You know, half the partners at Pricewaterhouse are in the room. It's just such a fan base and I want to be associated with it. And it's just like that everywhere. So it takes a bit of coping. I want to provide a bit more context from a passage in the book. You say There are only 22 Formula One drivers in the world, and estimates are that it costs far more than ten million to gain enough experience to obtain the super license required to be able to race in Formula One. Only a few dozen people in the world have one, but there are hundreds or thousands of drivers who dream of reaching that level. That really is just such a long shot. It's hard to overstate, especially when looking at Liam's meteoric rise, just how unlikely it is that another Formula One driver will actually emerge. Well, I think that's all true, especially from New Zealand, because one of the factors the teams take into account is marketability of the person they have. So if you're German or American or something along those lines, you know, you have a whole loyal customer base from a large country. Whereas in New Zealand, you know, Your best shot is five million people. So it's really tough coming from New Zealand. And you know, The other thing about him is that he had to go and live in foreign countries in Europe. And when he was 16, so, you know, if you're European, well, you just tootled down the road from France to Germany or wherever you're going. But he actually had to shift countries, actually went in with like a foster family, a family that took care of him while he was there. And he's been on his own ever since. doing that kind of thing for the past eight years. So to get another Formula One driver from New Zealand extremely difficult. But, you know, with him, it's just such a long shot, but he did make it there. Now he has to make sure he stays there, but he's doing a good job at the moment. Is he showing you some pretty cool behind-the-scenes stuff? Does he get you over? Yeah, yeah. I've been to a lot of races. Now, the lucky thing is, and that's what the reward I'm really glad to see him get there. But my personal reward is, you know, I can go to the race in the car with him. So you go in through the gates and you park where the Formula One drivers pit and you sit in the pits and all that sort of stuff. And it's just like, I've done it quite a few times now. So the thrill is slightly worn off, but, you know, The first few times you do it, you can hardly believe it. Like, you know, you're down in the pits. There he is, and there's Max Verstappen, and there are all these people. Then you're talking to him. You think this is unreal, you know. You know, people are sending me screenshots from home, I'd see you on TV and all that sort of thing. It's just, it's crazy. And are you watching all of his races live? Oh, absolutely. Wouldn't miss it for the world. No, no. Are you watching the race or are you just watching the leaderboard and seeing? where he is and what time he's... You know, I've got absolutely those two hats on because, like, my loyalty for cars is to Ferrari. So I'm watching Ferrari, hoping they're doing well. But yeah, I'm on that leaderboard a lot. Yeah.