RacingLiam Lawson says he learned about his supposed Supercars outing from a phone full of messages after landing in New Zealand, even though, by his own telling, nobody had told him he was racing. The Racing Bulls driver has shut down reports that linked him with the Supercars rounds at Taupo and Christchurch during Formula 1’s April break.
Speaking to selected media including PlanetF1.com during the break, Lawson said the story had no substance behind it. “I landed in New Zealand, and my phone was blowing up with, ‘Oh, Liam, you’re racing supercars next week’,” Lawson, Racing Bulls driver, said in that media session. He then added: “I was like, ‘I don’t even know I was racing supercars next week, so I don’t really know how everybody else seems to know that I’m racing a supercar next week!’” In the same conversation, Lawson said it was an April Fools’ joke that “happened to gain legs.”
The rumor centered on New Zealand’s April Supercars events, the Taupo Super 440 on April 10 and 11 and the Christchurch Super 440 from April 17 to 19. Those dates sat inside Formula 1’s unusual five-week gap between the Japanese Grand Prix and the Miami Grand Prix, a break created after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix were canceled because of the war in Iran, according to PlanetF1.com.
That context made the idea sound believable to some. PlanetF1.com reported that other Formula 1 drivers, including Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll, raced GT3 machinery during the same pause, which helped feed the wider speculation around what drivers might do away from F1.
Lawson made clear there was no short-term Supercars plan. “Obviously, when my life is not so focused on one thing, maybe, and I can actually put the time in to prepare for it would be cool. But, obviously, no real truth to that one,” Lawson, Racing Bulls driver, said to selected media including PlanetF1.com during the break.
He did not hide that the interest itself is real. Asked by PlanetF1.com about racing in other categories, Lawson said he would like to do more when his schedule allows. “Definitely, I’ve done it in the past, and loved it,” Lawson, Racing Bulls driver, told PlanetF1.com when asked about racing elsewhere. In the same context, he said driving different cars does not “hurt you too much” and that “always having that level of adaptability is good.”
Supercars still stands out to him for a simple reason: he likes the way the cars feel. “They do such a good job of keeping the cars raw,” Lawson, Racing Bulls driver, told PlanetF1.com when discussing the series. He continued: “They still have, obviously, a V8 naturally aspirated. They have sequential gearboxes, which they’re not going away from.” Lawson also said in that exchange that “the racing is really, really good,” and added, “I’ve driven the car a couple of times and just had a blast.”
So the rumor was just that, a rumor. Lawson says there is no Supercars debut lined up for this break, even if he would like to give the category a proper go later on.