When he was young Liam Lawson dreamt of being a motor racing star.
He was often told however that dreams simply don't come true.
But New Zealand's newest motorsport star Liam Lawson is now living the dream and having to pinch himself after winning his debut race in Formula 2 competition at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Liam Lawson celebrates after winning his first race in Formula 2 competition. Photo: Photosport
The 19-year-old shocked the racing world last weekend, when he won his first-ever F2 race.
With many Formula 1 teams keeping a close eye on the F2 competition to scout for talented young drivers, his Formula 1 dreams could come true sooner than he expected.
"It's something that I never ever thought would be possible like this, it's something that you dream of and since I was a kid I wanted to be a Formula 1 driver but even just talking to people about the chances of that happening people were telling me that's not possible," he said.
"As it sort of becomes more realistic it's crazy to think the way things have gone in the last couple years."
Lawson knows he still has a lot to prove and is trying to remain focused on his next race which will run alongside the Monaco Grand Prix in May.
Lawson grew up driving Monaco's iconic Monte Carlo track playing Formula 1 games on his Playstation and he's looking forward to finally getting to drive on the historic street circuit for real.
"It's my favourite track and I haven't even driven on it yet so I'm super excited for Monaco, it's an absolutely crazy place but it has always been the one that I've been most excited for," he said.
Racing for Hitech GP in Bahrain, Lawson won the first sprint race of the weekend but unfortunately spun out while sitting in third position in the second race.
Coming back from the mistake in his second race, he finished third in the feature race to cap off an impressive debut weekend.
In the wake of his great start to the F2 championships, Lawson says he's struggling to keep up with all of the messages of support coming from back home.
"It was really cool to see how many people were watching and the support I had from back home especially, but also around the rest of the world," he said.
Lawson leads the action during the 1st round of the Formula 2 Championship Photo: Photosport
Since his big win, Lawson has gained thousands of social media followers and received countless messages of congratulations.
Lawson has been immersed in the racing lifestyle for many years now, having started out racing go-karts in Pukekohe as a seven year-old.
But the adulation and attention of the past week has taken some getting used to.
"I was excited to be in this championship because I knew it was a big step not just in the car but on that side of things, I didn't realise it was this big though."
After receiving a scholarship for New Zealand's Formula First championship at 13-years-old, Lawson completed a whole season of racing in 2015 picking up a number of podium finishes and the rookie of the year title along the way.
The next year he progressed into the Formula Ford competition where he picked up 14 victories from 15 races to become the competition's youngest ever champion in the world at the time.
Example of the car's used in DTM German Touring Photo: Photosport
In 2017, Lawson joined his first international competition, the Australian F4 Championship, winning five races to become the runner-up in his rookie season.
Remaining in Formula 4 for another season, he took his talents to Europe where he was runner-up again for Van Amersfoot racing in Germany and Austria.
Lawson was signed to Red Bull's Junior Team in 2019 before he moved up to Formula 3, where he initially raced for MP Motorsport before changing to his current team, Hitech Grand Prix, for the following season.
"Red Bull was always the most attractive team since I was very young, when I was really heavy into watching Formula 1 while growing up it was when (Sebastian) Vettel was winning all of those championships with Red Bull so it was always the team for me, " he said.
Alongside the F2 championship, Lawson will also make his first foray into touring car racing, competing alongside Red Bull's F1 reserve driver Alex Albon in the German DTM season.
And you can listen to our interview with Liam Lawson on Extra Time here:
Extra Time for 1 April 2021
-RNZ