Lawson to make F1 practice debut in Belgium, Shwartzman set for future sessions with Ferrari

Scuderia AlphaTauri have confirmed that Red Bull Junior Liam Lawson will make his Free Practice 1 debut at the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix. Lawson’s involvement in the session at Spa-Francorchamps will fulfil the first of two young driver-mandated practice sessions for the Scuderia AlphaTauri team.

Lawson is currently competing in his second Formula 2 season and sits eighth in the drivers championship with two victories to his name. The most recent of the two coming at the Sprint Race around Le Castellet.

Lawson’s strong form in 2022 has seen the young New Zealander promoted to the role of Reserve Driver for both Red Bull-owned teams after Jüri Vips’ time in the Red Bull Junior team came to an end in June.

Meanwhile, Scuderia Ferrari have announced that last season’s Formula Two runner-up Robert Shwartzman will take the reins of the F1-75 for both mandated young driver sessions this season.

Both Lawson and Shwartzman ran in the 2021 post-season test around the Yas Marina Circuit. Lawson drove for the Scuderia AlphaTauri team in Abu Dhabi while Shwartzman ran for the Haas F1 Team. Now both drivers will have the chance to impress in an official Formula 1 Weekend.

It has not yet been confirmed when the Scuderia Ferrari Test Driver will make his Free Practice debut, but the team’s Race Director Laurent Mekies did rule out the possibility of Shwartzman running at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Speaking on the team’s decision to run Shwartzman in their mandated young drivers sessions, Mekies stated, “For us it’s Robert Shwartzman that will do our two Free Practice 1 sessions. We haven’t exactly decided on which events it’s going to be.

“You would not pick races like Singapore or races where the race drivers need more running. I don’t think we have an issue in doing it during one of the weekends where we have Pirelli testing.”

Credit: Scuderia Ferrari