Pukekohe teenager to lunch with F1 champion
Pukekohe teenager Liam Lawson will eat out with his hero, Ferrari’s driver and four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Lawson is this weekend competing in the fifth round of the ADAC German Formula 4 Championship – the support races to the German Formula One Grand Prix at the Hockenheim circuit.
The 16-year-old has been invited to have lunch with Vettel, a patron of the ADAC Junior Programme in Germany.
Lawson, currently second in the series, will be joined by German driver Lirim Zendeli and Brazilian Enzo Fittipaldi.
Lawson’s focus for the weekend will be on closing the points gap to leader Zendeli over the two F4 races on the Formula One under-card.
The pair are separated by 21 points with eight races remaining. This will be the second time the Formula 4 cars have been to Hockenheim this season. They will return again in September for the championship finale.
Hartley looks to compete and complete in Germany: This weekend sees Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Brendon Hartley competing in the German Grand Prix.
Hartley says the last three Grand Prix weekend’s haven’t gone to plan after he retired from each with car issues.
After the top three teams, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, the mid-field competition is incredibly tight with just hundredths of a second difference between finishing in the points or at the back of the pack.
While Hartley says he is a firm believer in making your own luck he is quick to acknowledge that he has had his share of bad-luck but remains optimistic.
Final North Island endurance round wide open: Feilding hosts the third and final North Island endurance series round on Saturday with any one of the top 16 teams in with a mathematical shot of winning the three-hour series.
Nelson’s John McIntyre and Hawke’s Bay’s Simon Gilbertson hold a lead of just five points over Brendon Leitch and Christina Orr-West of ITM Mike Racing.
McIntyre and Gilbertson scored their first win at round one behind the wheel of a Manthey Racing-built Porsche 911 GT3 Cup MR in a race at Hampton Downs. For round two the pair finished fourth at Pukekohe Park.