Liam Lawson

A race winner at pretty much every level of junior motorsport, and a front-runner in the highly competitive F3 and F2 championships, the New Zealander was keenly awaiting his F1 chance as Red Bull's reserve driver when a twist of fate presented it. With AlphaTauri racer Daniel Ricciardo breaking his hand in a practice crash at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, Lawson - inspired as a youngster by the Lightning McQueen character from the Disney animation Cars was ready to strike