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Marko: 'We're very optimistic about him becoming a really great driver'
- GPblog.com
Liam Lawson could have won the DTM title in his debut season, but after a bizarre incident with direct rival Kelvin van der Linde, he missed out on the championship. Lawson won't get another chance as Helmut Marko has announced the end of the DTM adventure for the Red Bull youngster.
"For Liam, the DTM is over next year. He will drive the full Formula 2 season next year. He will drive the Youth Driver Test and otherwise compete a few times on Friday if the rules allow," Marko stated to Motorsport-Total.com. So the full focus will be on getting to Formula 1.
His performance in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters is confirmation for Red Bull Racing that it once again has such a talented on its hands with Lawson. "He has improved super much over the course of the season. We're very optimistic about him becoming a really great driver," said Marko, who has seen his New Zealand pupil excel a little less so in Formula 2 (eighth in the standings so far). "There were technical problems, otherwise he would have been at the front there too."
Combining F2 and DTM no longer possible
This year, it was possible for Lawson to combine Formula 2 and DTM, but that will no longer be the case in 2022. With F2 and F3 in 2021, three races were combined in one weekend to reduce costs for the teams, so there were fewer GP's, allowing Lawson the chance to also compete in DTM. With 14 F2 races next year, that isn't possible in 2022.