Jason Pine: Our drive for instant results is hurting elite sports

What Red Bull have done to Liam Lawson is an absolute disgrace.

He's been given an opportunity to be the second driver in their team and has been given absolutely no support whatsoever - and now he's been demoted and Yuki Tsunoda's been given the seat.

You won't convince me Yuki Tsunoda is a better driver than Liam Lawson.

Lawson was put in there for a number of reasons, one of which is his mental resilience, and he's going to need all of that now as he tries to recover from this.

In many ways, the pressure comes off a bit as he goes into the Racing Bulls team, but Yuki Tsunoda isn't going to be able to drive a car that is specifically set up for Max Verstappen any better than Liam Lawson can.

Lawson had 2 races on unfamiliar tracks, one of which was in the pouring rain in Melbourne.

It's too small a sample size for his driving to be accurately assessed.

We're about to get to Japan, a track he knows, and they've taken the keys off him.

Liam Lawson will now recuperate and no doubt drive well for Racing Bulls - but it paints Red Bull in an absolutely terrible light.

Yes, they are a massive, results-driven organisation. But they have been utterly negligent in their duty of care.

This is where we've now reached in such a landscape of instant gratification, we have lost any ability to be patient.

Imagine if you opened a new restaurant and after a couple of nights, you didn't get the tables as full as you want, so you sacked the chef.

Things take time.

You cannot simply say, OK, well, he's had a couple of races, he hasn't done the job, we're dropping him.

Mark Webber was on the radio with me last week.

In the first seven years of his Grand Prix career, he made the podium twice.

In the next five years, he made the podium 40 times. 40. It takes time.

Red Bull have been shown to have absolutely no patience.

I know they're under pressure, but we've lost the ability across a lot of elite sport to hover above things and say - actually it's gonna take a little bit of time.

Imagine if we got rid of Graham Henry after the 2007 Rugby World Cup - we never would have had 2011.

The same goes for Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano - they're calling for his head. And a year ago, he was top of the pops, having guided the 'Nix to their best ever finish.

This drive for instant results is hurting players, drivers, coaches and everybody associated with elite sport, because those in charge simply can't see past the end of next week.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk zed B.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
What Red Ball have done to Liam Lawson for me
is an absolute disgrace. He's been given an opportunity to
be the second driver in their team and has been
given almost zero support whatsoever and now demoted with Yuki
Sonoda given that seat. Now, you will not convince me,

(00:33):
and of course I stand to be corrected, but you
will not convince me Yuki Sonoda is a better driver
than Liam Lawson. Lawson was put in that seat for
a number of reasons, one of which is his mental resilience,
and he is going to need all of that hours.
He tries to bounce back from this in many ways.
As I said to Barry, the pressure comes off now
he goes into the Racing Balls team. Yuki Sonoda, though,

(00:55):
isn't going to be able to drive a car that's
set up for Maxvstappen any better than Liam Lawson can.
Interesting to hear Bowry say, then red Ball are now
looking to set that car up differently. Well, that would
have been helpful for Liam, wouldn't it. Two races on
unfamiliar tracks, one of which was in the pouring rain
in Melbourne. It's far too small a sample size for

(01:17):
his driving to be accurately assessed. And we're about to
get to Japan, a track he actually knows, and I've
taken the keys off him. Look, he'll recuperate, he'll bounce back.
He is resilient and no doubt he'll drive well for
racing balls. But it paints red Ball in an absolutely
appalling light. Yes, I know they are massive results drive

(01:40):
an organization, but they have been utterly negligent in their
duty of care to Liam Lawson. And this is where
we now are. In an elite sporting landscape of instant gratification.
We have lost any ability, any ability at all to
be patient. Imagine if you opened a restaurant and after

(02:01):
a couple of nights you didn't get the tables as
full as you wanted, so you sacked the chef. Things
take time. You cannot simply say, Okay, well he's had
a couple of races, hasn't done the job. We're dropping it. Well,
they have done that, but it's not the right thing
to do. You might have listened to Mark Webber on
the radio with me last week. In the first seven
years of Mark Weber's Grand Prix career, he made the

(02:23):
podium twice. In the next five years, he made the
podium forty times, forty four to zero. It takes time.
Red Ball have been shown here to have absolutely no
patience at all. And I know they're under pressure, but
we've lost the ability across a lot of elite sport
to just hover above things, take a breath and say, actually,

(02:46):
this is going to take a bit of time. Imagine
if we've got rid of Sir Graham Henry after the
two thousand and seven Rugby World Cup, we never would
have had twenty eleven. He never would have been Sir
Graham Henry. Same goes for Phoenix coach John Kloertaliana. Right
now they're calling for his head. A year ago he
was top of the pops, guiding the Knicks to their
best ever finish. It's endemic cross elite sport, this drive

(03:08):
for instant results, and it's not helping anybody. In fact,
it's hurting players, drivers, coaches, everybody associated with elite sport
because those in charge simply cannot see pass the end
of next week.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
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