Angular Material - mat-table not rendering data from rest api

You need to create new MatTableDataSource() and then on data receiving pass that data to dataSource.data array.

 ngOnInit() {
   // this.dataSource = new MatTableDataSource(this.getLaps());
    this.dataSource = new MatTableDataSource(); // create new object
    this.getLaps(); // forgeted this line
    this.dataSource.paginator = this.paginator;
    this.dataSource.sort = this.sort;
 }

   getLaps() {
     this.rest.getLaps().subscribe((data: {}) => {
       console.log(data);
       console.log('Laps');
       this.dataSource.data = data; // on data receive populate dataSource.data array
       return data;
    });
  }