Bayer: Berger recommended to AlphaTauri to invite Lawson

AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer said Gerhard Berger once strongly recommended the team pay attention to Liam Lawson, but Franz Tost, the leader at the time, had doubts about the young New Zealand rider.

After a fairly successful start to his career in karting, Liam became vice-champion of Australian Formula 4 in 2017, and the following year he repeated this feat, but in Europe, in the German ADAC F4 series. In early 2019 he was invited to the Red Bull youth program, he moved to Formula 3, but his debut season was not very rosy, finishing 11th in the individual competition. But at the same time he became vice-champion in the Euroformula Open and won the title in the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series.

In 2020, Lawson continued to compete in Formula 3, but moved to the Hitech team and achieved three wins, moving up to 5th place at the end of the season, and in 2021 he made his debut in both Formula 2 and the DTM. It was then that he caught the attention of Gerhard Berger, a former Formula 1 driver and former co-owner of the Toro Rosso team, who at the time was in charge of this German touring car series.

Lawson claimed the title before the season finale, but only lost it in the final race, and through no fault of his own, the circumstances were that he fell just three points short of winning that championship. The young driver’s skill was appreciated not only by Berger, but also by Helmut Marko, motorsport advisor for Red Bull.

Peter Bayer worked for the FIA ​​at the time, but also remembers that Lawson had proven himself well.

“As far as I know, the main impetus came from Berger, who said that when Liam competed in the DTM he was incredibly impressive,” Bayer told Speedcafe. – Gerhard really liked Liam’s racing style. Then he said, “This is the man you need. He attacks every chance he gets and he is very fast.”

Helmut Marko also had no doubts about his speed, but Franz Tost was initially somewhat skeptical. He said: “Looking at his results (in F2), I’m not so sure.”

Just looking at Lawson’s results, he doesn’t seem like a great rider, but he has competed in several categories and has always shown talent. That’s why Marco had 100% confidence in him. We had a long conversation with Franz Tost and Christian Horner, and in the end Liam was given the role of reserve driver.”

Now everyone knows that when Lawson’s services were in high demand, he did an excellent job. Last year he unexpectedly had to replace the injured Daniel Ricciardo in the team in Zandvoort; he only got behind the wheel of an AlphaTauri car on Saturday, but handled very competently in difficult weather conditions both in qualifying and in the race.

Liam then competed in four more Grands Prix and earned points, finishing 9th in Singapore. Bayer emphasized that the 21-year-old New Zealander showed both the ability to adapt quickly and handle pressure.

“If you get your only chance in Formula 1, you want to show results because there are only 20 places in this championship,” he continued. “I told Liam about my interview with AlphaTauri shareholders when I applied for the position of Executive Director of the team. I’ve been to so many different interviews in my life, but I was still very nervous.

And when these guys suddenly get their chance, they understand that they have to give it their all, because there might not be another chance anymore. At Zandvoort, Liam admitted that he too was so nervous that even his hands were shaking when he got into the car. But as soon as I got on the track, everything went back to normal.

That’s how racers are: at the right moment something changes in them and they know how to convert this excitement into speed. Then you see who is capable of what, and that is what sets Lawson apart. Give him a car and he will do everything right.”