Jason Pine: Sports Contributor on Liam Lawson in F1, Warriors game tonight

Liam Lawson has had a disappointing race in the first free practice of the season, coming 16th out of 20 cars. 

There is work to be done for the Kiwi driver ahead of Sunday's race. 

Weekend Sport host Jason Pine talks to Ryan Bridge about the F1, the Warriors game tonight, 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jason Pines here Weekend Sport hosts. Hey, Jason gid a
Ryan Now Liam Lawson, he's had a chance to have
a quick buzz around the track already. How's he looking?

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Sixteenth fastest of the twenty, so like you should say,
towards the back of the field. In the opening practice session,
first taste of driving in the Red Bull seat as
a full time driver one minute eighteen point four five
five seconds. Now, that probably doesn't mean a lot in isolation,
but they have said Red Ball they want Liam Lawson

(00:28):
to be within three tenths of a second of Max
for Stappin in terms of how quick he goes. He
hasn't managed that because the Stappin's gone one seventeen six
nine six, So a bit of work to do for
Liam Lawson. But it's only practice, it's not qualifying and
it's certainly not the race itself, which is on Sunday.
At five Max for Stappin was fifth fastest. Mclarenly got
the fastest cars this year, Ryan Orlando Norris topping the

(00:51):
time sheets so far, quite a way ahead of the rest,
so they'll be everit a catching up to do for
Red Ball, but Liam Lawson at least has got out
there for the first time. He will be play to
get that out of the way.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yeah. Absolutely, What does this weekend Sunday five pm? You said,
the big race? What does success look like for him?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well, it depends on who you listen to. I think
finishing is one one measure of success. You know, to
finish first. First, you have to finish, as they say,
so I think getting rounds and getting the check a
flag is one thing. I think getting in the top
ten would be a bare minimum for Liam Lawson given
the fact he's in a Red Bull car which is
one of the one of the fast cars, and if
he stays within three tenths of a second of max

(01:29):
for staff and you'd have to think he'll do that.
But let's not forget it's a long season. There are
twenty one, sorry, twenty four Grand Prix across twenty twenty five.
So even if he doesn't quite manage to raise a
lot of eyebrows this weekend, I think getting the first
one out of the way will be a big weight
off the shoulders of Liam Lawson as he contemplates a

(01:50):
full year of being in this seatful time.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Now the Warriors Round one but ugly against Manly. Can
they bounce back tonight?

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Well, I'm not worried about Liam Lawson, a bit worried
about the Warriors. If I'm honest with you, Ryan, you
know they weren't great in Vegas, and you might be
able to write it off as saying, okay, well that
was almost a false economy. Vegas is almost pre season.
But Manly were very good last weekend, very very good.
One of the better sides going around, in fact, probably
one of the top two or three sides in the NRL.

(02:19):
The Warriors wouldn't want to put on the same performance
tonights at home as they did in Vegas. Look, I
don't think their favorite. I really don't think their favorite.
But look, funny things happen when the Warriors play it
mount smart, big crowd, hopefully expected. I think the weather's
going to be okay. But Manly are a good team.
I think performance is the thing rather than result. Even
if they were to lose but played a lot better,

(02:41):
I think that would be okay. But of course we'd
love to see them win tonight.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, hey, thanks so much for that, and good luck
to the lame O Hurricanes too.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Thanks right, gee, you left it late for.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
That Jason Pine. We'll see later on that Statson Pine
from his Talks beat.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
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