Kiwi driver Liam Lawson is looking ahead to the end of what's been a busy 2021 season, currently preparing for his first taste of Formula One with Italian side AlphaTauri.
While most 19-year-olds would be winding down towards the end of the year, Lawson's calendar is heating up.
Reaching the end of his first year in Formula Two with Hitech Grand Prix, the Red Bull Junior driver also used the breaks in his season to compete in the German DTM Championship - denied the title in the final race in heart-breaking fashion, and having to settle for second.
But that's all just a precursor for what's to come, with Lawson to test drive for AlphaTauri, the sister team of Red Bull, at this year's Formula One season finale in Abu Dhabi.
"So far, it's been very busy - the most busy season I think I've ever had," Lawson tells Newshub.
"But it's been good, the DTM season's been amazing, something that we really took advantage of, the team was really, really awesome to work with, we had a fast car.
"F2's been not exactly how I would have wanted it to go, but definitely a big learning curve."
With Red Bull in possession of a stable of promising junior drivers, Lawson - along with F2 teammate Yuri Vips - has been selected to take part in the end of season test, and will be in the AlphaTauri car during the first practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from December 11 (NZ time).
And if Lawson can take any confidence from being chosen to take part in the test, the fact that he was shoulder tapped by Red Bull's Formula One team principal Christian Horner is proof that the Pukekohe native is on the right track.
"I was doing my first simulator day with the Red Bull Racing team in the factory. I spoke with Christian Horner when I was there, and he just said basically they were talking about putting me in the car for the test.
"I was like 'awesome, obviously that's great.' A couple of weeks later, I got the confirmation when I saw the press release. It wasn't like 'Liam, you're going to do this.' And then I found out directly through Dr. [Helmut] Marko as well afterwards."
But merely being chosen to drive in an F1 test doesn't mean Lawson will just turn up in Abu Dhabi and jump straight into the AlphaTauri driver's seat. Instead, Lawson will spend the next few weeks in the gym preparing for the biggest driver of his career - so far.
"I'm planning on basically going to the factory in Italy, to AlphaTauri at the end of this month and doing the seat fit for the test in December," he adds.
"This year we've been doing a lot of training anway, for F2, but it's a different kind of training.
"The F2 car's a lot heavier to drive, but it's not so much on your neck. The F1 car, you get thrown around a lot more as well because it's a lot faster.
"The training's going to be slightly different now up until the end of the year, it's focussing more on F1 than F2.
"We spend a lot of time on the bike, cycling. That's where the cardio, high intensity stuff comes from. We also do lots of stuff in the gym. For F1, it's a lot more neck training. If you lose your neck in the car, it's really hard to recover from that. You need to have a strong neck.
"Lots of gym work and lots of cycling."
But Lawson won't have to look far for any advice as to how to handle his first taste of Formula One. In fact, he's already been getting it.
Lawson's teammate in the DTM series was former Red Bull and soon to be Williams Formula One driver Alex Albon, who's been more than happy to share his knowledge with the Kiwi as to what to expect.
"Alex has actually been nice enough to say either before or at the test, he's happy to go through stuff with me, and prepare me, tell me things to look for in the car.
"All season long, he's been great to have that with. The GT car's a lot different, but even to hear his feedback, the way he feels the car and stuff like that is quite advanced - which has been cool to learn off.
"And then a lot of late night airport drives where we've been driving together and talking about Formula One and stuff like that. The insight he's given is quite interesting."
Away from F1, Lawson still has to finish his season in Formula Two. With two races to go, Lawson sits eighth in the championship, with Saudi Arabia's Jeddah circuit, and of course Abu Dhabi still to come.
Lawson made headlines to start the season, winning his first sprint race in F2 at Bahrain's Sakhir circuit. And despite the challenges of the stop-start season - that will see no racing between September and December, Lawson is intent on finishing on a high.
"F2 this year's been quite difficult. It's been very up and down, with the reverse grid races, it's been quite difficult for us to get a clean break through a weekend. That's definitely been tough, but it's a learning experience.
"We have huge breaks this year, which is one thing that I haven't liked. It's been good to have DTM because I have been able to be in the car a lot. But the breaks have made it quite difficult to readjust to the car.
"But I am hoping to finish strongly in the last two rounds."
"The championship win's out of the question now, so for us it's about basically just sending it in every race, and doing the best job we can. Hopefully having some race wins to finish the year off would be nice."
