Lawson reveals question that ‘pi**ed off’ Marko but changed his F1 career forever

Right time, right place.

And Liam Lawson was at the right place at the right time when he flew to Zandvoort in 2023 to ask Helmut Marko, “Why won’t you just give me a chance?” A couple of hours later, Lawson got his opportunity.

Liam Lawson confronted Helmut Marko over his Formula 1 future

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A Red Bull junior since 2019, Lawson came through Formula 3 and Formula 2 with Red Bull’s backing while also serving as the reserve driver for both Red Bull and its sister team.

Third in Formula 2 in 2022, he had hoped to enter Formula 1 but was sidelined to the Japanese Super Formula with Red Bull opting to put Nyck de Vries and then Daniel Ricciardo in the junior team.

A frustrated Lawson flew to Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix and confronted Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko about his future.

“I had three days of basically reflecting on stuff, and then I flew to Zandvoort,” he told F1’s Off the Grid. “I decided I’m just going to sit down with Helmut and press him, basically find out what he’s thinking.

“I went into his office on Friday morning at Zandvoort and said ‘Why won’t you just give me a chance? You’ve invested all this money in me. What’s the point? I’ve been in the programme for five years.’

“It got to the point where I think he got a little bit pissed off because he basically just shut me down.

“I left that meeting and I called my coach who was there and I was talking to him. ‘This is pretty tough.'”

Later that day Lawson received his big break.

Ricciardo crashed heavily during the day’s second practice and fractured a metacarpal in seven places.

The Australian driver was sidelined for the rest of the weekend as his injury was evaluated, leaving AlphaTauri short a driver.

“It wasn’t just a straight cut: ‘Liam’s going to be in the car’,” recalled Lawson. “It was: ‘Who else can we get in who’s potentially had experience, who’s driven the car?’

“I went to Helmut, and I just walked in there and he looked at me and he goes, ‘are you ready?’ I said: ‘Yep’. And that was the whole conversation.”

Lawson scored two points in his five Grands Prix before Ricciardo returned to the car. He continued as a reserve driver in 2024, but was back in the car for the final six races of the championship in an audition for the F1 2025 season.

Asked if he felt conflicted replacing Ricciardo, the New Zealander explained: “I never did because the thing is, as much as it sucks, we’re all fighting for these seats. There’s nothing personal to it.

“But when you’re fighting for your career, it’s just everything and you can’t put anything in front of that.”

Lawson, after a brief two-race stint with Red Bull, returned to the sister team, now Racing Bulls, in early 2025 and has continued with the team this season, scoring 43 of the team’s 66 points.

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