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Speaker 1: So it seems Liam Lawson's time and rid Ball is over.

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Speaker 1: Still nothing official this morning, but multiple reports have laws

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Speaker 1: in racing balls for Japan next weekend while Sonoda gets

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Speaker 1: the main seat. Formula One journalist Chris Midlands, Well, there's

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Speaker 1: Chris morning to you, Mike, Hey do I'm very well

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Speaker 1: on do two racers to be dump chows? There must

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Speaker 1: be panicing rid Bull the step and can't make it

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Speaker 1: go as fast as they want. They're not going to

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Speaker 1: get the constructors un list they get both cars moving.

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Speaker 1: Would that be about what's driving the decision making a

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Speaker 1: little bit?

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Speaker 2: I think so yeah. I think they've they've probably seen

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Speaker 2: that Liam' struggling so much and someone who is a

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Speaker 2: young driver so in experienced, he only had eleven races

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Speaker 2: under his belt before getting that seat. I think they've

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Speaker 2: probably gone okay before it becomes even irrepairable for him

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Speaker 2: and hurts his confidence too much. Let's make a change.

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Speaker 2: And to be honest, from my point of view, it's

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Speaker 2: the decision they should have taken over the winter, where

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Speaker 2: they had Yuki Sonoda, who's much more experienced, ready to go,

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Speaker 2: and he's the one you could almost risk going through

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Speaker 2: something like this with because he had nothing left to prove,

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Speaker 2: whereas Liam still had a lot of learning to do.

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Speaker 2: So it's a really tough call on Liam, but hopefully

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Speaker 2: it gives him a chance to go into a car

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Speaker 2: that he knows well, where he an environment he's performed

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Speaker 2: well in, and he can rebuild from there.

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Speaker 1: What are they going to do if Sonoda can't make

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Speaker 1: the car work because the car is too difficult to

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Speaker 1: make work.

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Speaker 2: I wish I could give you the answer to that,

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Speaker 2: because the sensible question would be they'd look at themselves

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Speaker 2: finally and go, Okay, why is it that we can't

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Speaker 2: give two drivers a car that is that they can

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Speaker 2: drive well enough? Let's be honest. Max of Stappan is

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Speaker 2: an incredible talent, and then what he's doing is papering

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Speaker 2: over the cracks and finding a way of driving that

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Speaker 2: car in a way that most people can't. And that's

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Speaker 2: no slight on any other driver on the grid, but

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Speaker 2: that's just the standard that Max of stappens at. But

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Speaker 2: Red Bull have had problems with the second car for

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Speaker 2: five six years now. Really, Sergio Perez was highly experienced,

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Speaker 2: a proven race winner, and it all went wrong for

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Speaker 2: him last year and then they thought the way to

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Speaker 2: fix that was to put in someone with little experience

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Speaker 2: and say, go on, you do a better job, with

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Speaker 2: very little opportunity to prove himself. So it's always been

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Speaker 2: a source of frustr actually the way that they've not

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Speaker 2: made it work for both drivers over the last five

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Speaker 2: or six years, and Red Bull seemed to always blame

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Speaker 2: the driver. Hopefully if Uki also struggles, it will finally

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Speaker 2: mean that someone goes, Okay, this is not the driver's fault.

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Speaker 2: We need to change something ourselves.

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Speaker 1: You I'm sure you've heard, but do you can you

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Speaker 1: confirm the ten million things from Honda? And is that

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Speaker 1: I mean, let's see if one isn't it at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, But is that true.

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Speaker 2: I'm not aware of that's true or not, to be

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Speaker 2: honest with you, And I'd actually be sort of surprised

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Speaker 2: if it was. It could go that way. But Honda

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Speaker 2: leaving Red Bull at the end of the season, they're

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Speaker 2: going to be partnering with Aston Martin. That relationship was

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Speaker 2: actually a bit sour, I think a couple of years

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Speaker 2: ago because Honda originally pulled out Red Bull started making

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Speaker 2: their own engine as a result, because Honda were leaving,

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Speaker 2: and then when the regulations changed for engines for next year,

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Speaker 2: Honda decided on the new ownership or new leadership that

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Speaker 2: they wanted to come back in and it kind of

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Speaker 2: dropped red Bull in it. So that wasn't a particularly

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Speaker 2: harmonious relationship anymore, and I think that's one of the

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Speaker 2: reasons Sonoda wasn't getting a chance. But now I think

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Speaker 2: they have seen, okay, like Liam's really struggling here. Do

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Speaker 2: we drag it out for a long time and kind

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Speaker 2: of see if he turns it around, but at what cost?

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Speaker 2: Or do we go with the more experienced driver we

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Speaker 2: have in our books right now? And as you say,

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Speaker 2: the timing works for him as a Japanese driver going

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Speaker 2: in ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix and see if

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Speaker 2: he does better. I still feel they should have made

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Speaker 2: that call at the start of the season. Then it

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Speaker 2: would have been far less damaging for everybody involved. But

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Speaker 2: here we are now.

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Speaker 1: Great to have you on the program, Chris. We're talking

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Speaker 1: in Chris Middle and Formula one Journalism. For more from

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Speaker 1: the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd

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Speaker 1: be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,