March 14, 2026 • 16 mins
Liam Lawson has scored his first points of the F1 season, finishing seventh in the sprint race at Formula One's Chinese Grand Prix.
No driver made more overtakes over the 19 laps than the Kiwi, who started 13th.
Lawson comes away with two points.
Formula 1 writer Michael Lamonato joined D'Arcy to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Talking Formula One on the program now, Liam Lawson yesterday
picked up his first points of the season.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
This battle is.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Still going on behind Liam laws and will make it
to the line just ahead oh Volley Fairman who plays
the final points place and finished four tenths ahead of
Max for Stafford. We joined it now by Michael Lemonato
is Formula one writer if I credited to Boot Out
of Australia talking about the Formula One Michael, welcome on borderways.
(00:44):
Great to talk race cars with you. So have we
learned anything after Sprinton qualifying yesterday?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well, we've learned.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I think that a lot of the lessons we gained
in Australia are still.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Holding, even if it's very different.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Fact that is, Mercedes is very fast, perhaps a less
so in charge, more conventional circle, but also accounting for
the fact that every team learned quite a bit in
album was able to optimize things a little bit more,
I think we can say after the sprint that Ferrari's
race pace isn't so far though it was interesting to
hear Charlotte Clair look afterwards about acknowledging that, but then
(01:18):
saying they don't really know why and they can't explain it.
So there's a bit of up and down in that
as well. And then we've got a bit of a
gap to McClaren, but then a massive gap to Red
Bull Racing. At least at a track like this, they're
pretty much down in the midfield. They were out qualified
by Alpine and that was the same in the Spring Maximus.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
To haven't really downcast after the sprints thing.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. They've
got no pace cutters and work, no bounds. There's a
huge list of problems. So still the same order. I
think from Australia we've learned a little bit more about
the detail and where exactly those cars are all sitting
in China.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
What also we picked up that Liam Lawson given half
a chance, isn't that bad a pedler and his decision
or his team's decision to run a hard compound during
that it worked pretty well for him. Maybe the safety
car kind of helped or maybe it handed. I'm not
really sure. At the end of that, where did you
see that going? Because you think he could have lasted
(02:14):
a bit longer. Maybe he could have come and I
accidently don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Michael, Yeah, it's tough to say because he's essentially held
the position that he had before the safety car at
the flag but bend he didn't get caught out in
the pit stop drama. Of course, most cars pitted, so
the pit lane was very busy. Having started on the
hard tire meant that did he need to pit anyway,
so he may as well have had to go.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
But it was.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Interesting to see because that would have been around sixteen
laps deep into the sprint. His tires were still feeling
pretty aged by the time the race three started. A
couple of drivers passed the music but still scored points,
which is important for racing books. But that does mean
he's got one fewer heart going into the Grand Prix,
and given how high tire usage was in that sprint,
(02:59):
including as I said, on him and the hard tire,
we'll have to see how that pans out for him
in the Grand Prix. But considering that points on the
board are in, they saw a chance to get points
in the sprint. He got that point in the spring,
or I got a couple of points in the sprint.
The outcomes kind of there and now I touched them
to see what they can make of the raids as far.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
As surprises and qualifying. Look, we look at the top
six cars. We all saw that coming. Pierre Ghastly has
got to be a surprise mentioned in the Lpene popping
in ahead of the Stepen. But you look at the
performance of Bearman of Holkenberg. They put in a pretty
good show, didn't they. Unless I forget Esteban Ochen. We
(03:37):
love the Harsh team.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yeah, well, three eleven places in an open Nico Holgenberg
and all of them. I have to try and to
remember what it was in Australia, but all of them
really narrow. I think it was true thousandths of a
second that he missed out on a top ten. So
how are the actually doing? I think a lot better
than pre season expectations suggested they would be there right
on the cusp. Of course got points last weekend as.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Well, so they're looking really good.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
But Alpine, as you say, a little bit of a
surprise based on Australia where they were kind of just
a bit nowhere. But then I guess we should remember
that Australia being a bit nowa was also a bit
of surprise because they looked good in pre season testing,
so this feels a bit more. It's probably a little
bit better a Vidly qualifying a red Bull Racing guard,
but being in the top ten probably feels a bit
(04:21):
more where Alpines thought they would be in hoped they
would be at the start of the season. He executed
really well. I think when you give Pierre Gasly a
car he can drive, he tends to get the most
out of it if it doesn't have too many problems,
and that's exactly what happened here, comfortably out qualified and
his teammate Franco Colofindo, who did get out of Q
one though it's a little bit of success for him there.
And then all of the Benmen and Estevanokon. He's an
(04:42):
increasingly I think interesting comparison. Even early in the season
Bemen in another top ten.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
He really looks like he stepped.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Up from last year when he was clearly fast. But
we haven't really seen any big mistakes in him this
year in the way we did last year, and he's really.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Shading Estevaocon Now.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
I know Achon thinks he would have made the top
ten had the yellow flag not come out late.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
For Gabrielle bortolto Inqujune and he was up.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
We don't know if he would have made it, but
he certainly was up on his best lap time up
to that point. But it's just again that he's being
beaten by this driver much younger and much less experienced
than him in a brand new car. Where well, it's
a bit up for debate, but generally speaking we think
experienced drivers have a bit of an edge when the
rules change like this. It's an interesting position to rock
on to be and still very early days. Of course,
(05:24):
we're only halfway through the second round of the season,
but that's a sort of developing storyline already. I think
this year.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Interesting theory though, that the new drivers, especially the singular
rookie in the park, they don't know what the other
cars were like, so this is all they know in
Formula One, so if anything, when it comes to adaptation,
they're probably in the box seat.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Michael, I think there is a degree of that. Like
we've seen Arvid Lindblad, that one rookie. He's been pretty
good this year. He's had a bit of a patchy
weekend this weekend but I think that really stems from
the fact that he was out of practice one practice
session I think it was about fifteen minutes in and
laps just counters so much with these cars because they're learning.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
So much every lap. I think, actually, I think the.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Rookie thing count the younger drivers have tended to be
good like. We haven't seen that the younger guys suddenly disappear.
In fact, we've probably sent the opposite for most of them.
But I think it's the drivers who understand how they
drive the car who are the ones getting the most
out of it, because they're the ones who can adapt.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It's the drivers perhaps who have.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Historically just got in the car and driven it and
I don't know why they're fast, who can't unpick their
driving styles to make sure they work with his car.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
We can still see a lot of learning going on
in that sense.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Anyway, I think it was interesting to hear it may
have been Oliver Baerman. Now they cast me to run
back to a couple of days ago who were sort
of saying, you know, he's last lap in qualifying. He
just thrashed the car like he would have been an
old car and went slower, so it's things like that
where drivers have to if they understand what they're doing,
they're getting games. But if they're not understanding how their
driving style communicates with these cars, then they end up
(06:57):
a bit lost. I think that that'll unfold them more
subtle sizes we get in the more races we go to.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
To the Australasians Oscar prestree first, this is well, I'm
not quite sure what to make of Oscar and he's
probably scratching his head as well, but look he's on
the grid. He's sitting in fifth place. Do you feel
this room for him to move? Of course, Lando Norris
and defence of his championships not looking great at his
(07:24):
only early doors right there and thereabouts. From an Australian
point of view, where does Oscar sit?
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Yeah, I mean it's good first of all for him
to have got some laps on the board after crashing
out of.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
The Conoissan's laughs last week, so he started he sees him.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
He's got a couple of points as well, so good
news for him. But unfortunately the story of this weekend
has been On the one hand, McLaren feels like they
have made progress based on last week and qualifying times
suggest they have. They've got closer to Mercedes, but there's
still nowhere near Mercedes.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
And this is the problem. They're in this sort of
singular group of just him.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
And Lando Dorris feeling from Osco Piastri's perspective, that are
a little bit behind Ferrari at this race, certainly ahead
of Red Bull. They were roughly on par with Red
Bull in Melbourne, and that's just reflected of where the
car is. And I think you sort of listened to
Lando and noros Roscopyastri talk they're not so unhappy with
the car. Slot of the car is driving badly. This
is just where it is, you know, it's just not
(08:16):
as fast, doesn't have the same group, still doesn't have
the same power of the Mercedes. But then they've closed
that gap a little bit by understanding the endine a
little bit more so. Unfortunately without some chaos up front,
and we do have teammates starting side by side with
Mercedes and Ferrari, which does tend to sometimes break chaos.
A podium is probably out of the question for McLaren
this week. And then, like you say, bad news for
(08:37):
Landa Norris's title defense, because right now it's going to
need some big steps from McLaren just to get into
that mix.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
We're joined by Michael Lamonatto from Fox Sport. And if
I accredited Formula one writer Liam Lawson squeezed and Q
two couldn't quite get up. He possibly could have done,
but of course, as you touched on before, Colopento drove
off the track and that kind of scuppered as chances
because those laps were getting faster and faster edge you'd
(09:06):
expect toward the end of Q two.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
The yellow flag prevented quite a few drivers in that
Q two zone from progressing, so he didn't get the
ultimate order I suppose of exactly where everyone since in
terms of paste. But I think it's been positive for
Liam and for Racing Bulls that they are.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
In that mix. You know, it's always feels like.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
A a bit of a guessing game trying to place
that team at the start of the season, because you
know they're never going to be quite on Red Bull
Racing's pace, but occasionally they kind of look like they're
actually very close, especially when regulations change like this and
they inevitably buy a lot of a lot of parts
from their sister team, so that's sort of interesting in
its own case. But yeah, he's been moving in really positively.
He's been getting a lot out of the car. I
(09:45):
think the test, of course is against Lind Bladd and
like we've said, it's been probably half a step behind
this weekend. But as long as you can keep ahead
of him, because Red Bull's been quite impressed with Lind
Baz or rookie they reckon his He's roughly where Isaac
Kadjar is and obviously Hadja.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Has been promoted to the senior team. Then that'll be
really important for Lawson to rebuild his reputation.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
I guess, not that he has a bad reputation, but
obviously the battering last year, having to change teams and
having to rebuild himself a little bit, because I think,
as we've said before, notwithstanding Red Bulls under different management
these days, very rare for a driver to go quite
in fact.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Unheard of for a driver to go back to the
senior team. So to continue his.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
F one career in the next couple of years, he's
likely going to have to find it outside the Red
Bull family. So every little success he has now will
contribute to that.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Angry Max first steppen and sitting down like he's got
his teammate right next to him. But watching him tear
through the I'm sure they don't like it, but off
the grid watching them tear through everybody else, at least
we get some good entertainment, even though Max is entirely
unhappy with what he's got underneath him.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Yeah, of course, he'd much prefer not to have to
be doing that. To be fair, most of his comeback
was because he had a terrible start. I guess that's
the second time a Red Bull drivers had a terrible start, right,
because Lawson had one in Melbourne. It'd be interesting to
see if there is a link there. But he was
down the twentieth by the first lap, so I had
quite a few cars to pass. But he was getting up,
finishing just outside the points in nine. But it felt
(11:09):
like already at that point it was kind of topping
out a little bit, that the pace was getting harder
and harder to manage it because he was getting too faster.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And faster cars. The safety car of course help necessarily either.
It'll be interesting to see in the race today. Starting
in the same place.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
He was a little bit closer, he was less than
a second off pole, which is I mean that sort
of illustrates to you. Red Bull Racing is normally contending
for pole to be just less than a second off.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
It is nothing to shout about.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
But he's, as you said, really downcast. Doesn't love where
the cars at. The team suggested that it could be
actually because this track is let's say, more normal in
the sense the energy, the electrical energy is not at
a massive premium. The cars are actually working really well
with this track as opposed to Melbourne, where it was
all about the battery. But there's a lack of advantage
in Red Bull in that that Maybe the Red Bull
(11:52):
engine is very good at recovering energy and that's why
it looks competitive in Melbourne. But maybe this is actually
more where it really is at an average track. That
obviously Boat's even worse considering the average track is more
common over the course of the season. But get more information,
as is the case with this year and the new
ruled over the first couple of races.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Touched on the battery and how that is working. I
find it a distraction for the drivers. I don't know
if they need to be concentrating on that as opposed
to just driving. Is there any truth in my heart take.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
To a degree like some drivers are paying more attention
to that they said this is that in Melbourne that
they were paying more attention to just having the battery
at the right level at the right time. I think
it's going to be very track dependent in China. It
seems like that's much less the case. In qualifying it
certainly was.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
You know, we talked about Oliver Baman a little bit
earlier and.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
He decided on his last qualifying lab not to think
about the management and ended up going slower. So I
think in qualifying it is, and that to my mind
is still a problem because qualifying, even in China, where
if you look at an onboard lap it looks close
to normal, you can still see areas where the car
is just really not being pushed towards limits. And I
think that is a shame in the race though, based
on the sprint, and we'll wait and see with the
(13:03):
Grand Prix as well today because that'll of course look
a little bit differ. And I think it's less sod
at track like this where the battery over the course
of a race he is just able to recharge itself
without the drivers having to do anything different.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
In that case, they kind of race pretty much normally.
Of course we got this.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
The boost button that we saw a lot of overtaking
between Hamilton and Russell is just one example. I expect
that to still play a role, but as long as
that doesn't mean that they're overthinking that. I don't see
that as too much different in TRS, which admittedly wasn't
the mostal cat kind of racing anyway, but I was
understood and it has become part of the show over
more than a decade. I'm hopeful that this race will
(13:38):
actually look more normal, both from us the spectator point
of view, but also from the drivers in the cockpit
point of view.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
But we'll have to wait and see and.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Last quite literally but not least, pulling up the tail,
you what you'd expect this Cadillac, A devastated Aston Martin.
I don't know how the year is bowling out Williams
as well. That'd be a little downcast around that. But
I suppose we've got to celebrate Vulthori Botas because he's
coming and he's put a Cadillac ahead of Aston Martin's
(14:06):
great news, and he's such a great human and a
wonderful drive. I'm ready please for him.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Yeah, it's really good to see Botass back on the grid.
It always felt like his career didn't finish in the
right way, having been dropped back to the Souber team,
which just got less and less competitive.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Because he went and even Sergio in Paris.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
I think for his own sake, he doesn't want that
Red Bull chapter to have been his last.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Lots of problems for his card. None for veltry Botas,
which is good.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
That does seem like and this post for every team,
but especially the brand new team Cadillac. The more laps
they get building into the weekend, generally, the better that
car is going to go, which is not that surprising,
it is self evident. But I think we've got the result.
He with Botas out qualifying Lance Stroll to say more
about the Cadillac than it does Lance Stroll. I'll leave
that to your imagination, because Lance strolls more than half
a second slower than Fernando or Lonzo is a couple
(14:50):
of places up the grid. But the bottom line is,
I mean, well, certainly Aston Martin did not want to
be here, to not expect to be here. Way at
the back competing competing with the new team, the team that's.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Entered one and a half races so far in its history,
that is grim. There'll be thankful for the longer.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Break we're about to get in April because the two
Middle Eastern rounds have been canceled. I've like give them
a chance to at least replenish their spa, their spare
parts stocks.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
And then Williams as well.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
You touched on there. This is absolutely not the way
they thought that you started this season. The car is
really overweight. That's the first problem, but it also just
seems like the car generally isn't that good. It's not
producing the same kind of grip. I'm Alex Aldon was
very unhappy, described it as terrible in one word on
his pull down lap. So those three teams, well, no,
I should say two of those teams Aston Mardon Williams
with serious problems, but Cadillac I still think performing pretty
(15:40):
much in the way you'd expect a new team to
not quite there one hundred percent, but by the end
of the year I'd expect them to be looking much
more consistent.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
I'm really happy for the teams. I'm not happy for
Formula One that they've got to not be in the
Middle East. But I'm happy that the hard working guys
and girls who earn nothing actually get a bit of
time off to speak with their families. And I reckon
you could outqualify Lance Stroll. Michael, thanks very much for
your time, mate.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Thank you Matte anytime, and it.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Will be too because I'll be pestering again. Trust me
to love what you have to say, and I think
you should to. Michael Lamonateou is a Formula one writer
out of Fox Sport.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news Talks at b weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Talking Formula One on the program now, Liam Lawson yesterday
picked up his first points of the season.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
This battle is.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Still going on behind Liam laws and will make it
to the line just ahead oh Volley Fairman who plays
the final points place and finished four tenths ahead of
Max for Stafford. We joined it now by Michael Lemonato
is Formula one writer if I credited to Boot Out
of Australia talking about the Formula One Michael, welcome on borderways.
(00:44):
Great to talk race cars with you. So have we
learned anything after Sprinton qualifying yesterday?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well, we've learned.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I think that a lot of the lessons we gained
in Australia are still.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Holding, even if it's very different.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Fact that is, Mercedes is very fast, perhaps a less
so in charge, more conventional circle, but also accounting for
the fact that every team learned quite a bit in
album was able to optimize things a little bit more,
I think we can say after the sprint that Ferrari's
race pace isn't so far though it was interesting to
hear Charlotte Clair look afterwards about acknowledging that, but then
(01:18):
saying they don't really know why and they can't explain it.
So there's a bit of up and down in that
as well. And then we've got a bit of a
gap to McClaren, but then a massive gap to Red
Bull Racing. At least at a track like this, they're
pretty much down in the midfield. They were out qualified
by Alpine and that was the same in the Spring Maximus.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
To haven't really downcast after the sprints thing.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. They've
got no pace cutters and work, no bounds. There's a
huge list of problems. So still the same order. I
think from Australia we've learned a little bit more about
the detail and where exactly those cars are all sitting
in China.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
What also we picked up that Liam Lawson given half
a chance, isn't that bad a pedler and his decision
or his team's decision to run a hard compound during
that it worked pretty well for him. Maybe the safety
car kind of helped or maybe it handed. I'm not
really sure. At the end of that, where did you
see that going? Because you think he could have lasted
(02:14):
a bit longer. Maybe he could have come and I
accidently don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Michael, Yeah, it's tough to say because he's essentially held
the position that he had before the safety car at
the flag but bend he didn't get caught out in
the pit stop drama. Of course, most cars pitted, so
the pit lane was very busy. Having started on the
hard tire meant that did he need to pit anyway,
so he may as well have had to go.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
But it was.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Interesting to see because that would have been around sixteen
laps deep into the sprint. His tires were still feeling
pretty aged by the time the race three started. A
couple of drivers passed the music but still scored points,
which is important for racing books. But that does mean
he's got one fewer heart going into the Grand Prix,
and given how high tire usage was in that sprint,
(02:59):
including as I said, on him and the hard tire,
we'll have to see how that pans out for him
in the Grand Prix. But considering that points on the
board are in, they saw a chance to get points
in the sprint. He got that point in the spring,
or I got a couple of points in the sprint.
The outcomes kind of there and now I touched them
to see what they can make of the raids as far.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
As surprises and qualifying. Look, we look at the top
six cars. We all saw that coming. Pierre Ghastly has
got to be a surprise mentioned in the Lpene popping
in ahead of the Stepen. But you look at the
performance of Bearman of Holkenberg. They put in a pretty
good show, didn't they. Unless I forget Esteban Ochen. We
(03:37):
love the Harsh team.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yeah, well, three eleven places in an open Nico Holgenberg
and all of them. I have to try and to
remember what it was in Australia, but all of them
really narrow. I think it was true thousandths of a
second that he missed out on a top ten. So
how are the actually doing? I think a lot better
than pre season expectations suggested they would be there right
on the cusp. Of course got points last weekend as.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Well, so they're looking really good.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
But Alpine, as you say, a little bit of a
surprise based on Australia where they were kind of just
a bit nowhere. But then I guess we should remember
that Australia being a bit nowa was also a bit
of surprise because they looked good in pre season testing,
so this feels a bit more. It's probably a little
bit better a Vidly qualifying a red Bull Racing guard,
but being in the top ten probably feels a bit
(04:21):
more where Alpines thought they would be in hoped they
would be at the start of the season. He executed
really well. I think when you give Pierre Gasly a
car he can drive, he tends to get the most
out of it if it doesn't have too many problems,
and that's exactly what happened here, comfortably out qualified and
his teammate Franco Colofindo, who did get out of Q
one though it's a little bit of success for him there.
And then all of the Benmen and Estevanokon. He's an
(04:42):
increasingly I think interesting comparison. Even early in the season
Bemen in another top ten.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
He really looks like he stepped.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Up from last year when he was clearly fast. But
we haven't really seen any big mistakes in him this
year in the way we did last year, and he's really.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Shading Estevaocon Now.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
I know Achon thinks he would have made the top
ten had the yellow flag not come out late.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
For Gabrielle bortolto Inqujune and he was up.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
We don't know if he would have made it, but
he certainly was up on his best lap time up
to that point. But it's just again that he's being
beaten by this driver much younger and much less experienced
than him in a brand new car. Where well, it's
a bit up for debate, but generally speaking we think
experienced drivers have a bit of an edge when the
rules change like this. It's an interesting position to rock
on to be and still very early days. Of course,
(05:24):
we're only halfway through the second round of the season,
but that's a sort of developing storyline already. I think
this year.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Interesting theory though, that the new drivers, especially the singular
rookie in the park, they don't know what the other
cars were like, so this is all they know in
Formula One, so if anything, when it comes to adaptation,
they're probably in the box seat.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Michael, I think there is a degree of that. Like
we've seen Arvid Lindblad, that one rookie. He's been pretty
good this year. He's had a bit of a patchy
weekend this weekend but I think that really stems from
the fact that he was out of practice one practice
session I think it was about fifteen minutes in and
laps just counters so much with these cars because they're learning.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
So much every lap. I think, actually, I think the.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Rookie thing count the younger drivers have tended to be
good like. We haven't seen that the younger guys suddenly disappear.
In fact, we've probably sent the opposite for most of them.
But I think it's the drivers who understand how they
drive the car who are the ones getting the most
out of it, because they're the ones who can adapt.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It's the drivers perhaps who have.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Historically just got in the car and driven it and
I don't know why they're fast, who can't unpick their
driving styles to make sure they work with his car.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
We can still see a lot of learning going on
in that sense.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Anyway, I think it was interesting to hear it may
have been Oliver Baerman. Now they cast me to run
back to a couple of days ago who were sort
of saying, you know, he's last lap in qualifying. He
just thrashed the car like he would have been an
old car and went slower, so it's things like that
where drivers have to if they understand what they're doing,
they're getting games. But if they're not understanding how their
driving style communicates with these cars, then they end up
(06:57):
a bit lost. I think that that'll unfold them more
subtle sizes we get in the more races we go to.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
To the Australasians Oscar prestree first, this is well, I'm
not quite sure what to make of Oscar and he's
probably scratching his head as well, but look he's on
the grid. He's sitting in fifth place. Do you feel
this room for him to move? Of course, Lando Norris
and defence of his championships not looking great at his
(07:24):
only early doors right there and thereabouts. From an Australian
point of view, where does Oscar sit?
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Yeah, I mean it's good first of all for him
to have got some laps on the board after crashing
out of.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
The Conoissan's laughs last week, so he started he sees him.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
He's got a couple of points as well, so good
news for him. But unfortunately the story of this weekend
has been On the one hand, McLaren feels like they
have made progress based on last week and qualifying times
suggest they have. They've got closer to Mercedes, but there's
still nowhere near Mercedes.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
And this is the problem. They're in this sort of
singular group of just him.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
And Lando Dorris feeling from Osco Piastri's perspective, that are
a little bit behind Ferrari at this race, certainly ahead
of Red Bull. They were roughly on par with Red
Bull in Melbourne, and that's just reflected of where the
car is. And I think you sort of listened to
Lando and noros Roscopyastri talk they're not so unhappy with
the car. Slot of the car is driving badly. This
is just where it is, you know, it's just not
(08:16):
as fast, doesn't have the same group, still doesn't have
the same power of the Mercedes. But then they've closed
that gap a little bit by understanding the endine a
little bit more so. Unfortunately without some chaos up front,
and we do have teammates starting side by side with
Mercedes and Ferrari, which does tend to sometimes break chaos.
A podium is probably out of the question for McLaren
this week. And then, like you say, bad news for
(08:37):
Landa Norris's title defense, because right now it's going to
need some big steps from McLaren just to get into
that mix.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
We're joined by Michael Lamonatto from Fox Sport. And if
I accredited Formula one writer Liam Lawson squeezed and Q
two couldn't quite get up. He possibly could have done,
but of course, as you touched on before, Colopento drove
off the track and that kind of scuppered as chances
because those laps were getting faster and faster edge you'd
(09:06):
expect toward the end of Q two.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
The yellow flag prevented quite a few drivers in that
Q two zone from progressing, so he didn't get the
ultimate order I suppose of exactly where everyone since in
terms of paste. But I think it's been positive for
Liam and for Racing Bulls that they are.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
In that mix. You know, it's always feels like.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
A a bit of a guessing game trying to place
that team at the start of the season, because you
know they're never going to be quite on Red Bull
Racing's pace, but occasionally they kind of look like they're
actually very close, especially when regulations change like this and
they inevitably buy a lot of a lot of parts
from their sister team, so that's sort of interesting in
its own case. But yeah, he's been moving in really positively.
He's been getting a lot out of the car. I
(09:45):
think the test, of course is against Lind Bladd and
like we've said, it's been probably half a step behind
this weekend. But as long as you can keep ahead
of him, because Red Bull's been quite impressed with Lind
Baz or rookie they reckon his He's roughly where Isaac
Kadjar is and obviously Hadja.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Has been promoted to the senior team. Then that'll be
really important for Lawson to rebuild his reputation.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
I guess, not that he has a bad reputation, but
obviously the battering last year, having to change teams and
having to rebuild himself a little bit, because I think,
as we've said before, notwithstanding Red Bulls under different management
these days, very rare for a driver to go quite
in fact.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Unheard of for a driver to go back to the
senior team. So to continue his.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
F one career in the next couple of years, he's
likely going to have to find it outside the Red
Bull family. So every little success he has now will
contribute to that.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Angry Max first steppen and sitting down like he's got
his teammate right next to him. But watching him tear
through the I'm sure they don't like it, but off
the grid watching them tear through everybody else, at least
we get some good entertainment, even though Max is entirely
unhappy with what he's got underneath him.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Yeah, of course, he'd much prefer not to have to
be doing that. To be fair, most of his comeback
was because he had a terrible start. I guess that's
the second time a Red Bull drivers had a terrible start, right,
because Lawson had one in Melbourne. It'd be interesting to
see if there is a link there. But he was
down the twentieth by the first lap, so I had
quite a few cars to pass. But he was getting up,
finishing just outside the points in nine. But it felt
(11:09):
like already at that point it was kind of topping
out a little bit, that the pace was getting harder
and harder to manage it because he was getting too faster.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And faster cars. The safety car of course help necessarily either.
It'll be interesting to see in the race today. Starting
in the same place.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
He was a little bit closer, he was less than
a second off pole, which is I mean that sort
of illustrates to you. Red Bull Racing is normally contending
for pole to be just less than a second off.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
It is nothing to shout about.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
But he's, as you said, really downcast. Doesn't love where
the cars at. The team suggested that it could be
actually because this track is let's say, more normal in
the sense the energy, the electrical energy is not at
a massive premium. The cars are actually working really well
with this track as opposed to Melbourne, where it was
all about the battery. But there's a lack of advantage
in Red Bull in that that Maybe the Red Bull
(11:52):
engine is very good at recovering energy and that's why
it looks competitive in Melbourne. But maybe this is actually
more where it really is at an average track. That
obviously Boat's even worse considering the average track is more
common over the course of the season. But get more information,
as is the case with this year and the new
ruled over the first couple of races.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Touched on the battery and how that is working. I
find it a distraction for the drivers. I don't know
if they need to be concentrating on that as opposed
to just driving. Is there any truth in my heart take.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
To a degree like some drivers are paying more attention
to that they said this is that in Melbourne that
they were paying more attention to just having the battery
at the right level at the right time. I think
it's going to be very track dependent in China. It
seems like that's much less the case. In qualifying it
certainly was.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
You know, we talked about Oliver Baman a little bit
earlier and.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
He decided on his last qualifying lab not to think
about the management and ended up going slower. So I
think in qualifying it is, and that to my mind
is still a problem because qualifying, even in China, where
if you look at an onboard lap it looks close
to normal, you can still see areas where the car
is just really not being pushed towards limits. And I
think that is a shame in the race though, based
on the sprint, and we'll wait and see with the
(13:03):
Grand Prix as well today because that'll of course look
a little bit differ. And I think it's less sod
at track like this where the battery over the course
of a race he is just able to recharge itself
without the drivers having to do anything different.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
In that case, they kind of race pretty much normally.
Of course we got this.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
The boost button that we saw a lot of overtaking
between Hamilton and Russell is just one example. I expect
that to still play a role, but as long as
that doesn't mean that they're overthinking that. I don't see
that as too much different in TRS, which admittedly wasn't
the mostal cat kind of racing anyway, but I was
understood and it has become part of the show over
more than a decade. I'm hopeful that this race will
(13:38):
actually look more normal, both from us the spectator point
of view, but also from the drivers in the cockpit
point of view.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
But we'll have to wait and see and.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Last quite literally but not least, pulling up the tail,
you what you'd expect this Cadillac, A devastated Aston Martin.
I don't know how the year is bowling out Williams
as well. That'd be a little downcast around that. But
I suppose we've got to celebrate Vulthori Botas because he's
coming and he's put a Cadillac ahead of Aston Martin's
(14:06):
great news, and he's such a great human and a
wonderful drive. I'm ready please for him.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Yeah, it's really good to see Botass back on the grid.
It always felt like his career didn't finish in the
right way, having been dropped back to the Souber team,
which just got less and less competitive.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Because he went and even Sergio in Paris.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
I think for his own sake, he doesn't want that
Red Bull chapter to have been his last.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Lots of problems for his card. None for veltry Botas,
which is good.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
That does seem like and this post for every team,
but especially the brand new team Cadillac. The more laps
they get building into the weekend, generally, the better that
car is going to go, which is not that surprising,
it is self evident. But I think we've got the result.
He with Botas out qualifying Lance Stroll to say more
about the Cadillac than it does Lance Stroll. I'll leave
that to your imagination, because Lance strolls more than half
a second slower than Fernando or Lonzo is a couple
(14:50):
of places up the grid. But the bottom line is,
I mean, well, certainly Aston Martin did not want to
be here, to not expect to be here. Way at
the back competing competing with the new team, the team that's.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Entered one and a half races so far in its history,
that is grim. There'll be thankful for the longer.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Break we're about to get in April because the two
Middle Eastern rounds have been canceled. I've like give them
a chance to at least replenish their spa, their spare
parts stocks.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
And then Williams as well.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
You touched on there. This is absolutely not the way
they thought that you started this season. The car is
really overweight. That's the first problem, but it also just
seems like the car generally isn't that good. It's not
producing the same kind of grip. I'm Alex Aldon was
very unhappy, described it as terrible in one word on
his pull down lap. So those three teams, well, no,
I should say two of those teams Aston Mardon Williams
with serious problems, but Cadillac I still think performing pretty
(15:40):
much in the way you'd expect a new team to
not quite there one hundred percent, but by the end
of the year I'd expect them to be looking much
more consistent.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
I'm really happy for the teams. I'm not happy for
Formula One that they've got to not be in the
Middle East. But I'm happy that the hard working guys
and girls who earn nothing actually get a bit of
time off to speak with their families. And I reckon
you could outqualify Lance Stroll. Michael, thanks very much for
your time, mate.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Thank you Matte anytime, and it.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Will be too because I'll be pestering again. Trust me
to love what you have to say, and I think
you should to. Michael Lamonateou is a Formula one writer
out of Fox Sport.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news Talks at b weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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