Nate Saunders: ESPN Reporter on Liam Lawson's shaky start in Melbourne today

Kiwi Liam Lawson has already had a close call in Melbourne today ahead of the big day on Sunday. 

Going around the circuit the Red Bull driver grazed the wall on a turn. 

ESPN Reporter Nate Saunders talks to Ryan Bridge live from Melbourne. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now. Liam Lawson the man in the moment. He's
completed his first practice session as a full time Red
Bull Formula One driver and he's already had a pretty
close call. He was going around the Melbourne circuit. He
slightly grazes the wall on a turn. Have a look
such a Harteous on the entry of Sin nine. I
just brushed it. Liam finished the first practice session with

(00:23):
the sixteenth fastest time and the espn IF one writer
in Melbourne is Nate Saunders, who joins us now for more. Nate,
good afternoon to you. Good evening from us. How's our
boy Liam looking?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hey? How are you doing? Yeah, you're right. It was
a close call for him and I think probably a
pretty you know, standard start to his Red Bull career.
You know, he was down the order a little bit,
but when you're in a team like that, that's pretty
much pretty much the first thing you got to do
is just make sure you don't put your car in
the wall. So I think, you know, a slide starts
the weekend and we've got another practice session coming up
in a little bit as well.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Who's performing who do you need to beat? Who's performing best?
So far? Well?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Redbell are an interesting spot because I think one of
the big things we're all looking to see is where
they sit in that top four. We think McLaren pretty
much looked like the team to beat. They maybe are
a tiny bit ahead of the rest, but then that
three team gap group behind them looks super close. You've
got obviously Ferrari who ran McLaren really closed last year.
You've got Redbell in there, but Mercedes are going to
have stepped up as well. So really for Redbell, what

(01:22):
they're looking to do is just finish, you know, in
a competitive spot in that kind of in that three
car team. But Max look quick as he always does,
and I think Liam's job, as you know, as a
new guy in the team, I think his big thing
is just to not be kind of disgraced in that
early spell by Max, because so many teammates of maxi
Stappen start on a slow footing and just never really recover.

(01:42):
So if you're Liam, I think the first thing you
got to do is just make sure he's close to match.
I'm not sure beating him straight out agatest, you know,
the most realistic thing, just given that he's the railing
four time world champion, But it's super tight up there,
and he should have a pretty competitive car. It just
you know, I think I think I actually spoke to
him earlier and he said that everything he's doing is
just it's just about easy himself in. You know, it's
a long, long season, twenty four races. He doesn't need

(02:03):
to go out and be a hero on day one
or session one, and that's quite a smart way for
him to have approached. Is what everyone's saying. He's a rookie.
It's not his He's not officially a rookie, I guess
because he's had ten races over two seasons, but it's
his first full season and Formula one, so no need
to kind of, you know, get off to some flying
start and make, you know, make some big mistake and
have all the pressure on you suddenly. So I think

(02:23):
he's I think he's looking pretty pretty solid and he's
taking a sensible approach.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
To that, because you would be feeling, as you say,
he's done being in the seat before, but not as
a full time so you would be feeling a bit appreciation.
What's the atmosphere like that? I can hear a bit
of it behind you. What's the atmosphere like there night.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, I wasn't show how much you could pick up.
It's great, honestly. I mean, obviously Australia this year is
the host event, and I think for a lot of
us who grew up watching racing in the nineties and
early two thousands, this was the opening race and it's
a good reason why it was so popular, you know,
it's just it's just so there's so many fans here,
are such a colorful and noisy place. Obviously they've got
Oscar Piasty to cheer on to the local fans. But

(02:59):
I've got to say I heard a massive cheer earlier
when I was walking into the circuit. They have something
called the Melbourne Mile here. It's the Melbourne Walk where
all the drivers come in and I assumed, oh, must
be Lewis or it must be must be Maxed. It
was actually Liam getting a really really big reception. I
think that, you know, maybe maybe in other sports the
Australian New Zealand River is a bit stronger, but here,
you know, it seems to be quite embraced quite well.
So yeah, it's a great place for fans, great great

(03:21):
circuit and it will go back to bar Rain next year.
Which it looks a shame because I think this to
kick the season off, and especially for those of us
who used to play all the former one games growing
up as well, this is always the one you played
straight out of the gate, so it feels feels more familiar,
and I think the drivers like it as well. So yeah,
really really really good atmosphere. And actually there's a practice
session about to start, so there's a few drivers walking

(03:41):
past me kind of looking very serious and very intense,
so they're about to go back into their racing cards.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Sounds fantastic. We'll lead you back to at night night
Saunder's espn IF one writer with us from Melbourne. For
more from Hither Duplessyellen Drive, listen live to news talks
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