Liam Lawson revealed he knew his Red Bull move was “on the cards” before his big Formula 1 break was made official.
Lawson was announced as Sergio Perez’s Red Bull replacement on Thursday.
The New Zealander becomes the latest in a long line of Red Bull Juniors to graduate to the top team and he does so with just 11 race starts under his belt.
Speaking on the official Red Bull Racing podcast, Lawson revealed how he found out he’d be partnering Max Verstappen next year.
“I knew that this has been on the cards for a change,” Lawson said.
“Obviously, nothing was planned or set in stone or anything like that. And it’s all performance-based, as it always is.
“So they had the meeting and Christian [Horner] was kind enough to send me a text, ‘just a heads up that the meeting was good.’
“And then he called me and basically gave me the news [with] the classic one-liner, ‘Welcome to Red Bull Racing’.
“It was very exciting to hear over the phone.”
Lawson delivered Red Bull news to emotional father
Justifiably, Lawson has received the biggest news of his career to date and the first person he told was his father.
“I called my dad and obviously he’s been a massive influence on me as a person growing up,” Lawson explained.
The Kiwi added his father “was very emotional,” and that he’d “never actually really seen him like that, which is quite cool.
“He’s been with me since day one, literally,” Lawson continued.
“And he’s been a big part of, you know, the mentality I’ve had growing up and coming into racing and being a racing driver.
“He’s a big person who influenced me as a kid, not that he raced, but just letting me believe as a kid that I could do anything if I believed in it enough and I worked hard enough for it.
“And I’ve carried that forward all the way through.”
How Lawson delivered the Red Bull news
Lawson went on to explain that during the FaceTime with his father he delivered the Red Bull news in a conversation about their winter plans.
Instead of saying he’d be carrying out the usual Imola test with RB, Lawson told his father he’d be carrying out winter running at Silverstone.
Given the British Grand Prix circuit’s proximity to the Red Bull Milton Keynes headquarters – the penny dropped.
“So I FaceTimed him and I said to him, I was like, ‘oh, you know, dad, just looking at planning my my January sort of calendar at the moment,’” Lawson began.
“We normally we have a test with VCARB in Imola, that was the same last year and that was planned this year as well.
“I said to him, ‘you know, I’m actually not going to be testing in Imola right now. I’m going to be testing in Silverstone’.
“Just to see like his reaction, he was like, what are you saying?
“So I said, you know, I got the seat basically. And it was real funny because he sat on it for probably two minutes and I could see he just couldn’t really believe it, the same for me.
“Then he started reacting and he got emotional about it and it was very cool.
“He went then went and got my mum, who was in a different room and basically told the family.
“So, yeah, for everybody, they’ve given a lot for me, especially when I was younger. A lot.
“All my siblings and my parents have given up a lot for me to be able to do this.”
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