Every time Formula One star Liam Lawson hits the gas, Dennis and Debbie Chapman are watching.
And not just because they're fans of the Kiwi driver - for the Chapmans, it's much more personal.
The Tai Tapu pair sponsored a young Lawson as he rose through the ranks, supplying him with cars in New Zealand and paying for some of his early races in Australia.
Lawson started his career when he received a go kart at age six, and began driving Formula cars at 13. Lawson climbed the ranks through Formula 4, 3, 2 and Super Formula. His Formula One debut was in 2023 at the Dutch Grand Prix, where he filled in for an injured Daniel Riccardo.
Lawson is currently driving for the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula One team.
Before his F1 debut, he put in years and years of practice, helped by many Kiwis including Dennis and his wife Debbie.
“We couldn't teach him anything. We provided the car and that sort of thing. When he went overseas, we provided some money,” Debbie said.
Debbie and Dennis wake up for every Formula One race to watch their ‘young Liam’ competing against the best drivers in the world.
The couple both had their own dash in racing, from slot cars to racing fiat X1/9, to the Bathurst 1000.
“Since then, we started helping young guys, and I guess you could say Liam was one of the first ones.”
Dennis and Debbie have also helped sponsor current Formula 3 driver Louis Sharp, and V8 supercar driver Jason Richards.
Lawson began making waves internationally when racing at Highlands in Otago in one of the Chapmans' cars.
“He did an amazing demon move around the outside of a couple cars down the front straight, at this stage the international people noticed him," Dennis said.
He said Liam's biggest drawback is that he has no financial backing. “He is one of the very few who have got there [to F1] without bringing in a lot of money… We paid for the last couple of races in Australia in F4 because he didn’t have enough.”
The Chapmans didn’t do it for the glory, but because they believed in Lawson, and wanted to give back.
“It's nice to sit back and think we helped the little fella, it's a good feeling… we got into it because we had a bit of spare money, and we just liked supporting," Dennis said.
When asked about Lawson's future, both Debbie and Dennis agreed they didn’t yet know how he would stack up in the long run.
But they were sure he was a better driver "than at least half" of his competitors.
“Liam is lovely, we don’t do it [sponsor] to make money. We like to see Kiwis on the big international stage.”
