Imago
The Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse team continues to enjoy success in the 2021 DTM series after Kiwi Liam Lawson repeated Saturday’s second place in Germany on Sunday driving the #30 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020. // DTM at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, Germany on July 24, 2021 // Julian Kroehl / Red Bull Content Pool
Imago
The Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse team continues to enjoy success in the 2021 DTM series after Kiwi Liam Lawson repeated Saturday’s second place in Germany on Sunday driving the #30 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020. // DTM at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, Germany on July 24, 2021 // Julian Kroehl / Red Bull Content Pool
Dr. Helmut Marko often has his own style of getting exciting news across to Red Bull drivers over vacant seats in the Formula series. Earlier this year, it was Daniel Ricciardo, who revealed the moment he received the much-awaited call from the Austrian.
Now, only months later, Liam Lawson, one of the drivers who took part in the young drivers’ test in Abu Dhabi representing AlphaTauri, opened up about the bizarre timing Marko chose to initiate talks with him over a potential seat in Formula 3.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Lawson revealed that this phone conversation happened back in 2019 when he was at his girlfriend’s house. It was apparently 5 in the morning when the phone rang. Not often does one receive good news around that time and no wonder why Lawson assumed the same.
Reuters
Formula One F1 – Mexico Grand Prix – Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City, Mexico – November 6, 2021 Head of Red Bull’s driver development program Helmut Marko with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez REUTERS/Andres Stapff
However, as it turned out, it was none other than Marko himself with a rather exciting offer in hand for the Kiwi.
“I was in bed and was at my girlfriend’s, I didn’t know who was on the other end of the line. I thought to myself: ‘Don’t bother, it’s okay. Probably nobody important.’ And I remember that she woke up, looked and said: ‘Helmut Marko’,” he told Motorsport Total.
Watch Story: Lewis Hamilton’s Biggest F1 Crashes
The Red Bull advisor brings out the good news
Lawson acknowledged that he immediately rang up Marko, who got straight to the question of whether he is interested to compete in Formula 3.
“I perked myself up as quickly as possible and then called back immediately,” he said. “Then he asked me if I would like to drive Formula 3 this year. I said ‘yes’. One morning when I was back in the UK it was four o’clock, which is five in the morning in Central Europe.
Imago
Liam Lawson (AF Corse) during the DTM 2021 in Spielberg; Austria on September 5, 2021 // Lucas Pripfl / Red Bull Content Pool
“I don’t know what Helmut usually does at this time, but he called me. Sometimes he likes to leave you alone for a month or two and then call you more often,” he concluded.
Of course, Marko making such untimely calls isn’t anything new for the Red Bull drivers, with world champions, Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, allegedly being the primary examples. So, with Lawson being only the third such driver, could this be a sign of what’s to come for the current F2 driver?
Read More: The F1 Points System Explained
