{"id":382470,"date":"2025-12-31T11:35:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T11:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/382470\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T11:35:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T11:35:08","slug":"f1-driver-liam-lawson-surprises-couple-after-marriage-proposal-at-highlands-motorsport-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/382470\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 driver Liam Lawson surprises couple after marriage proposal at Highlands Motorsport Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Highlands staff fetched Lawson, Butler proposed to his partner of almost five years before the race car driver arrived with a bottle of Central Otago\u2019s Quartz Reef sparkling wine and words of congratulations, Butler said.<\/p>\n

Photos of the moment show Kenny embracing Lawson as her new fiance stood to the side, a sight Butler agreed was a wee bit funny given the timing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t too worried. If it was just some random bloke I would be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kenny, a 22-year-old apprentice builder, was delighted with the surprise and Lawson\u2019s generosity in sharing their special moment, Butler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a really good guy. Really down to earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA stand made from memontoes related to Formula One driver Liam Lawson surprising freshly engaged Christchurch couple Jayden Butler and Zoe Kenny with a bottle of wine and words of congratulations at Highlands Motorsport Park. Photo \/ Jayden Butler<\/p>\n

As well as the wine, Lawson signed a hat and a miniature F1 car which, along with a Lego replica of the hot laps car and a photo of the trio, has been put on a home-made stand for posterity. <\/p>\n

The marriage proposal was the first to occur at the race circuit, Highlands Motorsport Park wrote on its Facebook page alongside photos of the couple and Lawson.<\/p>\n

\u201cA huge congratulations on your engagement! Not every day you say \u201cyes\u201d\u2026 and then get surprised by an F1 driver<\/a>!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FormulaFormula One racing car driver Liam Lawson, left, pictured with Christchurch couple Zoe Kenny and Jayden Butler. Photo \/ Facebook, HighlandsNZ<\/p>\n

Staff still weren\u2019t sure if the future bride was \u201cmore shocked by the ring or Liam turning up with a bottle of bubbles\u201d, the company wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for choosing to make Highlands part of such a special moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 620 people had reacted to the post by 10am, dropping thumbs up or heart emojis on the involvement in the romantic gesture.<\/p>\n

As \u201cbig fans of F1\u2033 they were \u201cincredibly grateful\u201d Highlands were able to organise Lawson\u2019s involvement, Butler commented below the post.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you guys for making the experience so memorable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FormulaFormula One racing car driver Liam Lawson crashed the marriage proposal of Christchurch couple Zoe Kenny and Jayden Butler at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell. Photo \/ Facebook, HighlandsNZ<\/p>\n

Lawson completed his first full season in Formula One this year, with seven points finishes and his Racing Bulls team finishing sixth in the constructors championship, the Herald reported on December 8.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old has been confirmed to stay on the grid next year as part of Racing Bulls, Red Bull\u2019s sister racing outfit.<\/p>\n

Having earlier been named to partner Max Verstappen, the season\u2019s first two races saw Red Bull make the harsh decision to drop Lawson back to Racing Bulls<\/a>, and have Yuki Tsunoda take his place.<\/p>\n

However, in the 22 races since, Lawson had been able to rebuild with Racing Bulls, and now found himself on the 2026 grid at Tsunoda\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Highlands staff fetched Lawson, Butler proposed to his partner of almost five years before the race car…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[9490,1929,64,63,205700,505,140083,22618,26776,205701,5864,22714,817,9699,43161,78778,15448,2581,806,805,824,803,804,4911,128856,11920,62902,3173,85,7819,205699,93594],"class_list":["post-382470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-after","tag-at","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bridetobe","tag-central","tag-circuit","tag-couple","tag-couples","tag-crashed","tag-driver","tag-engagement","tag-f1","tag-happy","tag-highlands","tag-lawson","tag-liam","tag-marriage","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motorsport","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-only","tag-otago","tag-park","tag-proposal","tag-race","tag-sports","tag-surprise","tag-surprises","tag-wasnt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}