Red Bull Racing's New Zealander driver Liam Lawson poses for a portrait at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne on 13 March 2025. Photo: WILLIAM WEST
By Ben Strang, in Melbourne
When Liam Lawson emerged from his vehicle, in the shade of the old gum trees at Albert Park, a roar thousands strong swept through the Melbourne Walk.
Formula One fans flocked to the Melbourne Grand Prix fan zone to welcome drivers on Thursday, hoisting cellphones and go pros and flags and caps and giant cut outs of the drivers faces.
The largest cheers were saved for the true superstars - Sir Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Charles LeClerc - and the Australian heroes - Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan.
But they were also reserved for Lawson.
Piastri is seen as Australia's great hope for a home hero to win his home grand prix, the first such win in 45 years.
He took an age to work his way through the fans, signing what seemed to be thousands of autographs, and smiling for thousands of photos.
And despite the crowd working itself into a frenzy, it was during that time they took a moment and roared in approval when Lawson emerged - clad in stylish double denim.
Lawson has said Piastri is one of his best friends on the grid, having raced against him for the longest, and the two had hearts aflutter as they worked the crowd.
At one point, two young girls managed to snap a selfie with Lawson, an encounter that brought one of them to tears.
Half the crowd were women, brought to Formula One by the popularity of the Drive to Survive series, and kept there by the personality and charm of the drivers, and perhaps the organisers opening hair salons, tattoo parlours and a Mecca make up store inside the track's confines.
Another Ferrari fan wasn't able to get so close, but was equally giddy to see Lawson in the flesh.
The man was energetically waving a New Zealand flag high above the throngs, and carefully mounted a GoPro above his makeshift flagpole to capture the moment in perpetuity.
This is the life for Lawson now - adored by millions while balancing the pressure of delivering on the track.
At this point, neither seems to faze him.
Speaking to media later in the day, he said he believes he's the best driver on the grid, even if he must bide his time and learn from his four-time reigning world champion teammate, Verstappen.
"I think that's more of an opportunity than anything, coming in here in effectively my first time starting a season, to have [Verstappen] as a teammate is massively valuable.
"We all believe we're the best, deep down. Obviously, I have that self-confidence, but also realistically, coming in against somebody who's had 10 years in this team and won four championships, it's not really fair for me to expect myself to beat somebody like that off the bat.
"It's about using him to get better and to develop as quickly as possible and get towards that goal of winning as fast as possible."
Some would say Lawson is already winning with the way he's been received.
He and Verstappen appeared on Australian television on Wednesday and Thursday night, on the Project, and Lawson was told he was being officially adopted as an Australian.
"I knew you were going to do that," he said, before being urged to partake in a traditional "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi".
"No, I'm not doing it," he replied, with an angry grin on his face. "I'm from New Zealand. We have red stars, not white stars. I'm not doing it."
If the Australians are attempting to adopt you, you must be doing plenty right.
Lawson will hope to continue that fine form when he hits the Albert Park circuit for the first time this afternoon.
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