Lawson keen for Supercars drive after display at Albert Park

Despite not competing at the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, Liam Lawson had the “bucket list” opportunity to head out on track in a Gen3 Mustang, driving hero James Courtney for three laps around Albert Park.

After impressing as a stand-in driver for AlphaTauri last Formula 1 season, Kiwi driver Liam Lawson has well and truly put his name on the map.

Coming into 2024, Liam Lawson is sat on the F1 sidelines as Reserve Driver for RB, making room for the occasional chance to test his skill in other series, and after yesterday’s running in the Blanchard Racing Team Gen3 Ford, Supercars seems to be high on Lawson’s radar in the future.

Fresh from his three laps, Lawson described the drive as “lots of fun”.

“Honestly, it’s probably one of the most fun cars, it’s really raw,” Lawson said.

“With Formula 1, everything is very, very fast, but obviously, you’re much more connected with what’s going on.

“You’re doing much more footwork [in the Supercar] which is, it’s a much more enjoyable way of driving.

“The car moves around a lot. It’s reasonably forgiving, but if you push it around a bit too much, you’re going to have moments.”

Lawson wasn’t alone in the cockpit, chaperoning his childhood hero, James Courtney for the lap around Albert Park.

The Supercars driver was full of praise for Lawson, saying that he could “jump in and do the race [that] afternoon” if he wanted to.

Liam Lawson drove his childhood hero, James Courtney around Albert Park.

“I definitely pushed a lot harder with James [Courtney] than I did with anybody else,” Lawson said.

“I felt quite a lot of pressure when he got in next to me because when I was a kid he was my hero when I started go-kart racing. 

“So, it was a pretty cool experience.”

Aside from that, it was a refreshing experience for Lawson who hadn’t driven a race car with a gear stick since his days in Formula Ford when he was just 14 years old.

“It’s very, very different,” the now 22-year-old said.

“Obviously, you have a lot of weight transfer going in these.

“I was trying to speed everything up, but if you do it too quickly, you just end up locking wheels or over-pushing entry.

“There’s definitely an art to driving it, and I think that’s why even guys that are racing in sort of F1-level, when they go and do either co-driver experiences or something like that, you never really see anybody get in and get it down straight away.

“It always takes time to adjust cause it’s quite a unique skill.

After singing such compliments about the car and the series, it was no surprise to hear Lawson say that he “would love to” drive Supercars competitively. 

“Yeah, like a co-driver thing would be amazing to do if I could jump in one day. That’s definitely the dream. 

“Obviously every driver has their bucket list races that they want to do, and Bathurst has been something that I’ve grown up watching. 

“So, I would love to do it.”

Lawson drove the RB7 at Mount Panorama last year, adding to his urge to race in the iconic event sometime soon.

For this weekend, however, Lawson will continue with his RB Reserve Driver duties, watching on as Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda hit the track at 12:30 PM. 

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