Red Bull junior Liam Lawson to drive for AlphaTauri in first practice at Belgian Grand Prix

The New Zealander will drive Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri in first practice at Spa-Francorchamps

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Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson will participate in first practice this weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix in place of Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri.

The New Zealander, who is currently competing in Formula 2 with Carlin, takes his spot in FP1 at Spa-Francorchamps with Red Bull’s sister team, with all teams this season required to give two practice sessions to junior drivers who have taken part in less than two Formula 1 races in their career.

Juri Vips took part in FP1 at the Spanish Grand Prix in May for Red Bull, with the Constructors’ leaders still required to hand out one more session to a junior driver.

Lawson, 20, took part in the Young Drivers Test in Abu Dhabi following the end of the 2021 season but will now take to the wheel of an F1 car in 2022 for the first time.

“[I’m] super excited to say I’ll be doing my first FP1 this weekend at Spa,” he said.

“I honestly couldn’t think of a better place to do it, there’s going to be a very exciting feeling. [It’s an] historic track and a place that I’ve always enjoyed driving. So in a Formula 1 car is gonna be incredible.

“I’ve been doing a lot of sim work over the year as well, leading up to this, so I think the prep was really really good and, obviously, I had my first outing last year in December. Since then, honestly, I’ve been dying to get back in the car.”

It marks the first time AlphaTauri have used one of their junior driver spots and Yuki Tsuonda will be required to give up a practice session later in the season.

Lawson is currently eighth in the F2 Drivers’ Standings and has won two sprint races this year in what is his second season in the feeder series for Formula 1.

The 2022 season returns this week at the iconic Belgian circuit following the summer break, with Max Verstappen closing in on his second world title; he leads by 80 points with nine races left.