Jason Pine: Sportstalk host on Liam Lawson finishing sixth in Austrian Grand Prix

Satisfaction for Liam Lawson after prevailing in a race long battle with a two-time world champion at Formula One's Austrian Grand Prix.

The Kiwi driver has secured a career best sixth - one place ahead of Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso.

Sportstalk host Jason Pine explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And Jason Pine sports talkhosters with me, Hey Poney, Hallo, Heather.
So Liam Lawson has he redeemed himself? Do you think?

Speaker 2 (00:07):
I think so? Yeah, good weekend from his best weekend
as a Formula One driver, has best ever finish sixth
in the race itself. But I think you take it
wider than just this morning, to the way he was
in practice, the way he wasn't qualifying, and then the
way that he continued it on into the race itself.
He's done well in practice and in qualifying another weekends

(00:27):
in the Grand Prix season, but hasn't translated it into
a performance on the track. Look, he had to avoid
a bit of carnage on the first lap that got
rid of Max for staffing. Then he had to hold
off Fernando Alonso, a former world champion for about forty
or fifty laps, had to manage the hire strategy. I
think a really good weekend for Liam Lawson and hopefully
the springboard from which he can he can jump into

(00:49):
a much better second half of the year.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
And what happens then if he does well? Look, because
I'm not stuck where he is for years now. No.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
The thing about red ball and racing balls is that
it just seems like utterly chaotic at times. No one
wants to be in the second seat with Max for Stappin.
Yuki Sonoda, who took that seat or remember from Liam
after just two races, is having a heck of a
time trying to drive that car. He was the last
finish of this morning. Oh, look, in many ways, it's
probably a bit of a poison chalice. If Max for

(01:19):
Stappan leaves Red Ball, then Liam Lawson, if he continues
to drive like this, would have to be a candidate
along with Sonoda and probably had the other driver to
jump into the top team. So I guess we're waiting
to see. But yet, look, finishing the way he has
this morning can't be a bad thing.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yep, fair point. Now, what's happened to Luke Metcalf.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
We're still waiting on the scans, but it looked really
bad when he came off and just the way that
he was reacting. He's had an ACL before on the
other knee, and I don't know, I just feel as
though he knew that it was a serious knee injury.
So I think we can probably do or probably know
that we're not going to have Luke Metcalf for the
rest of this year, So what do they do to

(01:57):
Mighty Martin might be the best placement. Tanner Boyd is
another one, but Luke Metcalf has been playing so well.
And then you couple that with at the moment, we're
not sure about chance nikol klukstar either DLL and what
Tennis lesni acts out when Mitch Barnett has gone for
the season. I didn't know that said. It's becoming a
list either, not just one or two. You know, we've

(02:18):
talked about the next amount up mentality, but when you
lose so many key players in spine positions, you do
start to worry just a little bit.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Look here we were saying, and we were wrong, right,
We both were of the view that they would hardly
missed Dell and what does Alesniak and that step up?
And then man, what a spanking. So it's just I mean,
that's so.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Unpredictable they are, and they go through this sort of thing,
don't they either, You know, anyone the Warriors, even you
know from a distance, knows that they go through peaks
and troughs. I just hope that these injuries don't derail them.
You know, like I say in key positions, they do
have a bye week, so it gives them a bit
of time to refresh. And the next three games are
against teams who are in the bottom five on the table.

(02:58):
So it's not a chilling July, but it could be
a very important July.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Piny, scan your brain for me and tell me. Is
there any team New Zealand team that plays with the
old Ruggaball right, so we're going union and league here.
Who are as inconsistent as the Warriors?

Speaker 2 (03:15):
I'll say the Blues until last year. They're about as
close as I can come. Hurricanes, Hurricanes, actually a lot
of them like that.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
I can tell you, Okay, they're out there. It's not
just the Warriors. They that Poney as per appreciated.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Mate.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
That's Jason Pine. Sports talk hosts.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.