The advice F1 world champ gave to Liam Lawson before debut

By Luke Kirkness

New Zealander Liam Lawson made his Formula One debut over the weekend and says two-time defending world champion Max Verstappen gave him some sound advice.

Lawson finished 13th at the Dutch Grand Prix – an improvement of six places from his starting spot on the grid – despite challenging conditions.

The Pukekohe 21-year-old was called up to drive for AlphaTauri after Australian Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand during a crash during second practice and speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking this morning, Lawson said Verstappen spoke to him before the race.

“Max has always been really, really good to me. I see him all the time and before the race he gave me some really nice advice as well: Just don’t over think it and try to enjoy it.”

AlphaTauri have announced Lawson will drive for them at Monza this weekend and continue driving for them in Formula One until Ricciardo was ready to return.

Lawson said it was “pretty crazy” making his F1 debut and the experience before the Dutch Grand Prix, which Verstappen won, took him back to playing video games.

“I got in the car before qualifying and I remember being a kid and playing the F1 game and one of the things is the loading screen. Just before you drive the car you get the options menu and you’re sitting in the car in this garage and there’s all these TV cameras in front of you and the team around you ... it was exactly like it was when I was eight-years-old playing F1 2010.”

In a race where wet weather caused havoc on a number of occasions, Lawson kept his cool to finish in 13th. He finished ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who was 16th.

He had one practice session before qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix, where he struggled as he was still getting to grips with the car and driving on the intermediate compound tyres for the first time. He was the slowest in qualifying, but got a one-spot bump up the grid as Haas driver Kevin Magnussen started from the pit lane after making a change to his power unit.

Things got off to a bad start for Lawson, partly as a result of an early downpour during the opening lap of the race. With every driver aside from Lewis Hamilton starting on soft tyres, most made the call to switch to the intermediates, which are better suited to wet weather.

Lawson was pulled up for an infringement in the pit lane and handed a 10-second time penalty. But that penalty didn’t end up costing the young Kiwi too much as crashes throughout the race allowed him to gain any ground lost under the safety car or red flag rules.

He told Hosking it was challenging pushing himself to the limit mentally to be quick on the track, especially given the wet conditions but he said to finish 13th was “pretty good”.

“A lot of cars didn’t finish but a lot of the race was a race for survival, especially at the end.

“It’s hard to put an expectation on [Monza] or the target. For me, I’m just excited for the fact we’re going to do a full week of preparation. I get simulation tomorrow and I’ve got all the practice sessions to do. I’m super excited for that and hopefully I can be more comfortable.”

After Monza there is a two week break before the Singapore GP.

Lawson became the 10th Kiwi to compete in an F1 race.

Red Bull star Max Verstappen won the Dutch Grand Prix to tie the record of nine straight race wins, with Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) joining him on the podium.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission