Alongside his driving goals, Liam Lawson said “the dream” for him in Formula 1 would be to have a home race in New Zealand.

The 2025 season will begin as close as Lawson will geographically have to a ‘home’ race on the calendar when Formula 1 visits Melbourne in March, but he has never driven around Albert Park in the junior categories before.

Liam Lawson on ‘the dream’ of home race in New Zealand

No circuits in New Zealand currently hold the FIA Grade 1 certification required to host a Grand Prix, though several in the nation hold Grade 3 status as of the end of last year.

In that case, it’s likely that, for the foreseeable future at least, Lawson will have his ‘home’ fans have to travel from New Zealand to Australia to watch him race in Formula 1, with his debut as a Red Bull driver coming at Albert Park in the opening race of the season.

Even though he is relishing the challenge, he admitted it will be a “really, really tough” weekend, having never driven around the circuit before and with limited testing to get up to speed.

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That being said, having been promoted from VCARB to partner Max Verstappen this year, he is ready to “make the most” of the opportunity in front of him at Red Bull.

“It’s exciting, especially with Melbourne up first,” Lawson said while attending the Formula Regional Oceania Championship, as per stuff.co.nz.

“I would love to have a race in New Zealand, that’s the dream one day, but Melbourne is the closest thing.

“So yeah, it’s exciting, but as I said, it’s a track I haven’t done and it’s going to be really, really tough. You know, we have three practice sessions, and to try and make the most of that, we don’t really do much pre-season testing. In fact, we do one test, which everybody does together.

“It’s going to be hard, but I’m just excited. Now I have the opportunity laid out in front of me, it’s up to me to make the most of it and deliver.”

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