Is Pukekohe about to get its first Formula 1 driver? The drums are beating for Pukekohe youngster Liam Lawson to make the step up and compete at the highest level of the sport.
Already signed to the Red Bull team and contesting the Formula 2 championship, Lawson is being mentioned by some astute judges as a genuine option to fill one of the two Red Bull seats in Formula 1 next season.
Championship leader Max Verstappen is locked in for next year and beyond but who drives the second car remains open. Current driver Sergio Perez is just starting to deliver the results Red Bull needs from its second car and has the experience to help the team adjust to the new revolutionary rules that come into effect next year.
But he seems a stop-gap option. Red Bull has a number of young drivers that they could promote including Lawson, who might have the highest ceiling out of the lot.
Lawson has a race win and a pole position to show for his debut season in Formula 2 while he is sitting second in the DTM Championship as well.
Red Bull boss Helmut Marko believes it is a case of when not if Lawson will reach the sport’s pinnacle.
“A very down to earth guy, hard working, when he makes a mistake he admits to it and he had some bad luck like the disqualification from Monte Carlo [in F2] this year,” said Marko on Newstalk ZB.
“He made a mistake, or a team made a mistake, I’m not so sure what happened. But it was nothing to do with his performance. He did a superb race, it was harsh.
“He is also very, very ambitious and works with the engineers. If he sees a weakness, he works on it and it goes away. But what’s most amazing is how quickly he can change from Formula 2 to DTM.
“God gives him unbelievable speed and car control. What we do through our system is shaping him and preparing him to the technical side – he is doing simulator stuff at Milton Keynes.
“That gives us the possibility to see how he would perform in a Formula 1 car.”
When pressed on the likelihood we see Lawson promoted to Formula 1, Marko reiterated that it will just be a case of timing.
“We will make an evaluation after the end of September,” Marko said.
“But being consistently a front runner in F2, and also in F3, and now also showing in a Ferrari GT car that he is competitive against far more experienced people, it shows he has the capacity to be in Formula 1.
“When is another question.”
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