As the dawn of the 2025 Formula 1 season rapidly approaches, New Zealander Liam Lawson is set to embark on his first full-time campaign at the pinnacle of four-wheeled motorsport as he prepares to make his racing debut for Oracle Red Bull Racing in the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, 13-16 March. 

Whilst his journey to a full-time F1 seat, by his own admission, has not been the most straightforward of routes, Lawson, the tenth Kiwi to race in F1, boasts an impressive and varied resume that has seen him compete in a multitude of single seater & sportscar championships across the globe after dominating national race series from a young age. Now, at twenty-three, and with the intense F1 spotlight shining brightly on his every move, Lawson is determined to make his mark in one of the world's most challenging racing series with a proven championship-winning team and power unit combination, which this year enters the eighth and final year of collaboration between Red Bull and Honda.

He is of course not the only racing driver to emerge from the island country in the Pacific eager to leave his mark on the world stage. Despite its size, New Zealand has a rich history of motorsport and has produced a long list of successful racing drivers. Amongst them, having already left a significant mark on the sport, fellow countryman Scott Dixon is racing in his 25th consecutive season of Indycar. A six-time champion ranked second of all time in the race winners list, a four-time Rolex 24-hour winner, an Indianapolis 500 winner and a motorsports hall of famer, it is safe to say that Dixon has made his impact in the upper echelons of the sport. 

A history maker and a rising star, both of whom have risen through the ranks of domestic racing in New Zealand to the world stage. But just what did it take to make such a journey? We sat down with the pair at a Honda event prior to the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024 to discuss the similarities and differences.



Where did it all begin?

Scott Dixon:

So, do you still meet up with a bunch of your school friends and stuff when you go back home? For me it’s a combination of schoolmates and friends I met in go-kart.

Liam Lawson:

For me, it's go-kart friends. I have a couple of really close mates, one of them is in Supercars now doing really well actually, Matthew Payne, I grew up with him. We actually say he's the reason I became a racing driver.

Scott Dixon:

No way.

Liam Lawson:

Yeah, we went to pre-school together, so at like 3 or 4 years old. And we both loved cars, but my family didn't race, so my dad didn't know about go-karting or anything like that. And then Michael got into karts because of his dad, and I went and watched him at like five years old, and that's how we realised, ‘this is something we can do’. So that's how I started.

Scott Dixon:

So you were in Auckland. Where did you start?

Liam Lawson:

At Mt Wellington.



A chance encounter

Liam Lawson:

You know there's actually a photo of when I first met you back home, we were at the… The Leadfoot festival.

Scott Dixon:

Oh, yeah?

Liam Lawson:

And you were driving.

Scott Dixon:

Oh, the tractor thing?
Liam Lawson:

Yeah, you were driving some really old…

Scott Dixon:

It was a 1906 Darrach, that thing was wild because you could only use a handbrake. If you used the foot brake, it would blow it apart.

Liam Lawson:

Really?

Scott Dixon:

It was only for if you were going to crash, so you're using this handbrake and there was just so much torque.

Liam Lawson:

Massive engines right?

Scott Dixon:

Like that thing was wild

Liam Lawson:

Well it was there that I got a photo with you.


Scott Dixon & Liam Lawson - Leadfoot Festival 2016

Follow the opportunity.

Liam Lawson:

How did you go from racing in New Zealand to overseas? You went to Australia first right? What was the championship?

Scott Dixon:

Formula Holden. So F3000.

Liam Lawson:

But you then shifted to America and even tried F1 at one point, right?

Scott Dixon:

So even after I won my first Indycar championship, that's when we considered the transition to F1. I think we are similar in a lot of ways with the transition though, because we had no money, so it was basically trying to find whatever you could. Even the whole American thing for me, I was actually on my way to Europe to start testing an F3 car, and then we wound up with a free test in Indy Lights. The test went really well, and they offered me the drive for no pay, and that's the only thing that we could really do anyway, so that's how that happened. You know, I think if you could plan it a little bit differently, you would have done it differently if money wasn't a factor.

Liam Lawson:

But you have to go where the opportunity is and normally you only have one opportunity to go with!

Scott Dixon:

But for me how the door's opened, man, you couldn't write a book. But you know, we also had great support and help from the likes of the Giltraps to Grant Baker. New Zealand is pretty special like that, there are people that really want to help you.

Liam Lawson:

I think here [USA] you wouldn't get that so much because it's so big and there's so many athletes and drivers, but in New Zealand, there are people who are so passionate about seeing a guy get to IndyCar or get to Formula1 that they back them. It's the same for me, the way everything worked out, the timing of things. Even Red bull you know, I was doing the Toyota Racing Series, it was my first season of it and going into those five weeks, I had no seat for the next year. I'd done one season of F4 in Germany and we had no plan. I couldn't afford F3, there was one or two seats left and we didn't have the money for it. So heading into that season I was like ‘we have to get something out of this!’ And after the first week we had a Red Bull contract.

Scott Dixon:

It's funny how things work out.
Liam Lawson:

I feel like though, to be fair, everywhere I've raced, including F1, New Zealand Motorsport is well respected, whether you're a driver, an engineer or whatever. It's common that they speak about New Zealand quite highly.

Scott Dixon:

Yeah for sure. I think it's a personality thing too, we’re pretty low-key, Kiwis get in there, get after it and don't moan too much.



‘Get in there, get after it and don’t moan too much,’ a defining motto with which both drivers’ steely determined manner could easily be attributed. And heading into the 2025 season both will almost certainly need to lean into such characteristics. For Dixon, already a podium finisher this season, he drives in search of title number seven and to make it twenty-one seasons of Indycar racing consecutively to feature race wins. Meanwhile, for Lawson, he will look to seize the opportunity of racing in one of the most competitive seats in Formula 1 and realize his potential.  

The 2025 Formula One season gets underway 14-16 March at Melbourne’s Albert Park Grand Prix circuit. You can find out more here.

The Indycar season started on 1-2 March with the Streets of St. Petersburg in Florida, with the next race at California’s Thermal Club on 22-23 March, and more is available here.