Liam Lawson will make his Formula 1 debut this weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix, driving for AlphaTauri in free practice. The Red Bull junior will take over Pierre Gasly's seat for the first 60-minute session at Spa-Francorchamps and drive alongside Yuki Tsunoda. Kiwi Lawson, 20, will be on double duty as the F1/F2 seasons resume, continuing his junior series campaign for the Carlin squad. He is eighth in the standings with three rounds – six races – left, and has taken two wins, in the Saudi Arabia and France Sprint races.
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welcome back to the cockpit @LiamLawson30 ! ✌️ the young Kiwi will make his official F1 session debut this weekend at Spa 👌 taking over the wheel of Pierre's AT03 pic.twitter.com/6ZxwbDcPv5 — Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) August 23, 2022
Lawson meets FP1 requirements
In 2022, as a push to give more meaningful track time to young drivers, each regular F1 race driver will be forced to vacate their seat for one free practice session. The young driver must not be one who has started more than two Grands Prix, with teams free to make the change at any race. Lewis Hamilton took his session at the French Grand Prix, while the likes of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc are yet to do so. However, Ferrari have confirmed that Robert Shwartzman will take over their car when Leclerc and Carlos Sainz step out. Haas announced on Monday that Antonio Giovinazzi will drive in FP1 in Italy and the United States, but the team confirmed to RacingNews365.com that they still need to run a rookie driver to meet the regulations.
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