Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2: It be follow This and our Wide Ranger podcast now
Speaker 2: on iHeartRadio. Liam Lawson has had a crack at the
Speaker 2: Saudi Arabi and Grand Prix. We're continuing with the if
Speaker 2: one theme for time being. He's finished twelfth for the
Speaker 2: racing balls.
Speaker 1: Oscar Piastre crosses the line now to win the Saudi
Speaker 1: Arabian Grand Prix and lead the drivers' championship. Max Verstappen
Speaker 1: is beaten into second place and got that five second penalty.
Speaker 1: Charlaflair holds off Lando Narris to claim Ferrari's first podium.
Speaker 2: Of the season. Oscar Piastre took the check and flag,
Speaker 2: gaining crucial Constructors Championship points for McLaren, while Max for
Speaker 2: Stepan came in second for Red Bull. Motorsport expert and
Speaker 2: former McLaren race member Bob McMurray joins me now and Bob, hello,
Speaker 2: how are you going?
Speaker 3: Good morning to him? Yeah, very well, thank you after
Speaker 3: watching a Grand Prix for what seems all night, but
Speaker 3: it was good you would beat.
Speaker 2: I mean, do your allegiances still sit firmly with McLaren
Speaker 2: haven't been a member.
Speaker 3: I've got to say, yeah, if I was going to
Speaker 3: support any team, it would be McLaren and I still
Speaker 3: have a lot of friends there and I still go
Speaker 3: to our association of McLaren Old Boys. So yeah, underlying
Speaker 3: it all, you can't get real thirty odd years in McLaren.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, they still look like they do have the faster
Speaker 2: car or they read ball with nex with Stepan's pretty close,
Speaker 2: isn't he.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you listen to Orlando Norris after the race and
Speaker 3: he said, you know, it's not not true. We don't
Speaker 3: have the fastest car at all anymore. It's just on
Speaker 3: the day and all sorts of things like that. But
Speaker 3: you've got to say that everybody is quite close. But
Speaker 3: in race trim it does seem to be that McLaren
Speaker 3: has the edge slightly on the the Red Bull of
Speaker 3: Max with Stefan up to now, but Max was incredibly
Speaker 3: fast in the in the race overnight that to Selby.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's still a competition and it's a good competition.
Speaker 3: A good thing about that race is that it's the
Speaker 3: first race this year that the pole position winer didn't
Speaker 3: win the race. I mean, that was getting a bit tedious,
Speaker 3: but yeah, it was a race we had anyway, good one.
Speaker 2: Let's get on to Lawson's performance. Liam Lawson, what did
Speaker 2: you make of his performance?
Speaker 3: Not much, to be honest. He was overtaken by his
Speaker 3: teammates at the beginning of the race, despite the fact
Speaker 3: he was on medium tires, his teammate was on hard
Speaker 3: and he never betted his teammate all the way through,
Speaker 3: depending on the even depending on the different tactics with
Speaker 3: changing tires and all that sort of things. So he
Speaker 3: got a ten second penalty, which I thought was a
Speaker 3: little bit bizarre. When he overtook Jack Doing and went
Speaker 3: off the road slightly, he got a ten second penalty,
Speaker 3: whereas Max was to happened he went straight over the
Speaker 3: corner and retained his place at the front of the pack,
Speaker 3: only got a five second penalty. So I don't know
Speaker 3: how those guys work it out early every time, but
Speaker 3: I think it was a better display from Liam than
Speaker 3: he has had so far on a very tough track.
Speaker 3: But the overriding thing is you still got to beat
Speaker 3: your teammate, and I believe Liam will start to do that. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but that's the you know, that is the crucial thing
Speaker 3: in any team. Beat a teammate.
Speaker 2: I guess, well, that is the thing that you believe
Speaker 2: he can do it, so the improvement is what he'd
Speaker 2: be looking for. Would qualifying ahead of Isaac Hadgow have
Speaker 2: sort of helped his mental state and confidence?
Speaker 3: I'm sure, yeah, I mean it was, it was by
Speaker 3: this limits of margins, but yeah, he did qualify ahead
Speaker 3: of him, So that that means that there are an
Speaker 3: equal footing in the team, and Liam's experience should see
Speaker 3: him improve as he comes to tracks he's driven on before,
Speaker 3: as has Hadji in Formula two with his whole different
Speaker 3: world in Formula one, and you've got to give a
Speaker 3: lot of credit to Isaac Hadjar coming in after, you know,
Speaker 3: straight into his first season and being competitive straight up.
Speaker 3: So you know, Liam has got a battle on his
Speaker 3: hands with a very very good driver and he's been
Speaker 3: spotted as a good driver all the way through Formula two.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's going to be tough.
Speaker 2: What's the speed of the car that Lawson's driving compared
Speaker 2: to the rest of the field.
Speaker 3: Well, by the speed, you mean.
Speaker 2: The performance the potential.
Speaker 3: I mean, well, the potential is getting better and better now.
Speaker 3: They obviously feed from the major team Red Bull and
Speaker 3: they have a lot of parts that they're allowed to
Speaker 3: have from Red Bull on that car. So it is
Speaker 3: getting better and better, but it is clearly a midfield
Speaker 3: team at the moment. It is clearly a team that
Speaker 3: is going to be fighting with the likes of Aston Martin,
Speaker 3: but they should do better than them because of one
Speaker 3: of the drivers in Aston Martin and useless with Williams
Speaker 3: with half that sort of thing. That's where they've got
Speaker 3: to step out. They've got to step above that got stuff.
Speaker 2: Hey, thanks some much for your time, Bob, really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: That's more of a most sport expert Inform Claire and
Speaker 2: race member Bob McMurray for.
Speaker 3: More from News Talk sed B. Listen live on air
Speaker 3: or online, and
Speaker 2: Keep our shows with you wherever you go with our
Speaker 2: podcasts on iHeartRadio