Liam Lawson opens door to racing outside F1: 'Something I would love'

Liam Lawson has voiced his desire to explore racing opportunities away from F1, all while fitting in with his full-time schedule.

Max Verstappen is currently attracting attention for his escapades at the Nordschleife, and the four-time champion is in action once again this weekend.

The demanding F1 schedule offers little time for drivers to explore racing opportunities in other categories.

But unlike many of his F1 peers Lawson has experience racing GT machinery as he took part in the 2021 DTM Series, which ended in controversial circumstances.

The New Zealander brushed off the suggestion that other seats could be distracting from F1, insisting that having the ability to adapt can improve a driver's skillset.

“I’ve done it in the past, and loved it,” Lawson told media including RacingNews365.

“I think driving different cars, I don’t think anything really hurts you too much.

“I think always having that level of adaptability is good. I’m lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to do that since I was very young.

“In New Zealand, I was driving a race car on a race track at 12 years old, which is quite young.

“Before racing F4 in Europe, for most guys, that’s year one of racing cars, and I had done, like, three years of circuit racing on a track for four years.

“So, it would be cool.”

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Lawson keen for Supercars experience

In Australia and New Zealand, the Supercars Championship is a popular category for local racing fans.

Lawson is keen for a taste of the “raw” machinery before he hangs up his racing helmet.

“Supercars, especially, is something I’ve grown up watching, and I think the series is amazing,” he said.

“I think they do such a good job of keeping the cars raw. They still have, obviously, a V8 naturally aspirated. They have sequential gearboxes, which they’re not going away from.

“They’re not going towards paddle shifts and other things like three pedals; there’s no auto blip and stuff like that, that sort of managing everything themselves.

“I think that’s just such a cool thing. The racing has been really, really good as well. So I like the series a lot. It’s something I would love to do.

“I’ve driven the car a couple of times and just had a blast.”

Lawson added that a great appeal of racing that doesn't involve open-wheel racing is the ability to be more aggressive when in a wheel-to-wheel battle.

“But other series as well, obviously, I did DTM a few years ago and enjoyed it,” he stated. 

“I hated the way it ended, but, honestly, I had a really, really enjoyable [time]. I enjoyed the season throughout the year, and getting to work with a different team and a very, very different series.

“Being a bit more aggressive, you know, throwing some dive bombs, slamming some doors, stuff like that. It was something we obviously can’t do too much in Formula 1.

“So it was good fun, and I’ve always tried to do stuff like that, even if it’s in different sports, and riding a dirt bike a lot as well, and enjoying it.”