Liam Lawson to drive F1 car for the first time at Goodwood

Liam Lawson will drive a Formula 1 car for the first time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The Red Bull Junior driver will take part in demonstration runs over the four day event in Sebastian Vettel's 2011 championship winning Red Bull RB7.

Lawson, who competes in FIA Formula 2 championship as well as DTM, said the invitation came as a complete surprise.

"I was in the hairdressers getting my hair-cut and got an email from Red Bull. I opened it and saw they wanted me in the car and honestly I couldn't believe what I was reading," he said.

The young Kiwi said it finally sunk in when he saw the car being prepared.

"I went with one of the staff from the Red Bull factory into a building I hadn't been in before."

"I walked past more than 30 of their cars that had raced over the last 10 years."

"Then eventually up to the RB7 that had a couple of mechanics working on it."

"I was looking all over it and then very quickly realised they had already put my name on the car."

"When I saw that it hit pretty hard that's for sure."

Vettel won the 2011 Formula 1 world championship in the car when Lawson was just nine years old.

The Red Bull team took 18 pole positions out of 19 races in the car, with 12 wins and 27 podiums between Vettel and teammate Mark Webber.

"I remember sitting on the couch watching Sebastian win all those races and now I get to drive this car."

"It's really special."

Lawson will get two runs on Friday and Sunday at Goodwood as part of the 'Grand Prix Greats' series, featuring Formula 1 cars from Mercedes, Williams, McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull.

He will also set timed laps in his Red Bull DTM car, getting four runs at the iconic festival each day.

"Driving it is definitely going to be an eye opener!"

"I know its just a show run so we won't be pushing any limits on the run, but I'll definitely give a few burnouts a go!"