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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from Newstalk ZB.

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Speaker 2: In store at the season ending Formula One Grand Prix

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Speaker 2: and Abu Dhabi. After qualifying earlier today.

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Speaker 3: Charlotte Clair gets the third Charlotte Clare moves to third position.

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Speaker 3: Huge pressure on these corners with the McLaren drivers over

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Speaker 3: the line for Pastre who finds himself with the fastest

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Speaker 3: final sector. He gets into second position with his best time.

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Speaker 4: What can Lindo Norris do?

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Speaker 3: Huge moments in the World Championship. Norris gets to second place,

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Speaker 3: he improves to the front row.

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Speaker 4: Max for Stappen though on run.

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Speaker 3: Number two, on fire again, on pole position again and

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Speaker 3: the McLarens can't deny him. But George Russell's nearly dropped

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Speaker 3: it out of the final corner.

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Speaker 4: He's in fourth place.

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Speaker 3: He gave it everything and our top three contenders for

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Speaker 3: the title are in the top three positions on the grid.

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Speaker 3: Max for Stappen with his eighth pole of the year.

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Speaker 3: Here is the driver the McLarens will go racing for

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Speaker 3: the win in Abu Dhabi.

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Speaker 4: He's lit it up in Abu Dhabi.

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Speaker 3: He's taken poll for the final Grand.

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Speaker 4: Prix this season.

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Speaker 2: There you go, Max for Stappen pole position. He's qualified

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Speaker 2: fastest ahead of title rival Lando Norris, his McLaren teammate

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Speaker 2: and fellow contender Oscar Pastre, third on the grid. Now

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Speaker 2: Norris leads for Stappen by twelve points going into the

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Speaker 2: final race of the season. Oscar Pastre is a further

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Speaker 2: four points behind. What that means, in very very simple terms,

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Speaker 2: is that Norris will be champion if he finishes on

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Speaker 2: the podium, regardless of what help happens elsewhere. So Lando

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Speaker 2: Norris just has to finish in the top three.

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Speaker 4: Max.

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Speaker 2: For Stappen would win what would be a fifth consecutive

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Speaker 2: driver's title if he wins the race and Lando Norris

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Speaker 2: is fourth or lower. Liam Lawson's qualified thirteenth teen, Isaac

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Speaker 2: Headghart finishing four spots ahead in ninth position. Let's bring

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Speaker 2: an award winning Formula One journalist, broadcaster and former general

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Speaker 2: manager with Williams and Ferrari Peter wins up. Peter, appreciate

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Speaker 2: your time and expertise this afternoon. Lando Norris, as to say,

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Speaker 2: only has to finish on the podium to claim his

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Speaker 2: first ever drivers championship. From second on the grid. How

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Speaker 2: likely is that, Well, it's pretty likely.

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Speaker 5: But you know, I'm sure you follow a lot of sport.

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Speaker 5: We all watch.

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Speaker 6: Sport, and it's not easy actually trying not to win

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Speaker 6: and instead just trying to finish third.

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Speaker 5: That's not an easy thing to do.

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Speaker 6: So and Lando's a relatively sensitive, emotional guy, and he

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Speaker 6: does get a bit flustered sometimes, and I suspect that's

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Speaker 6: going to be the weakest part of his day on Sunday,

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Speaker 6: is actually working out how to be a sure third

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Speaker 6: without actually blowing it, if you see what I mean.

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Speaker 6: You know, it's a bit like when you're in a

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Speaker 6: tennis match when one of the players goes off for

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Speaker 6: you know, an injury timeout and comes back with bandages

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Speaker 6: on every his leg. The other guy always thinks, oh yeah,

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Speaker 6: I got this match one, and inevitably they end up

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Speaker 6: losing the match. You know, It's Sport's a funny thing.

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Speaker 6: If you don't try and win all the time, it

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Speaker 6: bites you back sometimes. So you know, it only takes

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Speaker 6: Max to get the lead and then drive relatively slowly

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Speaker 6: in the front of the race, just enough to stay

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Speaker 6: in front bunch the field up to the point where

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Speaker 6: maybe oscars in front of Lando. At this point, maybe

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Speaker 6: the McLaren tires start to suffer because they're in traffic

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Speaker 6: and there's turbulence, and they.

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Speaker 5: Maybe have to come into the pits a little bit.

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Speaker 6: Earlier than they plan, and when they come out, they're

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Speaker 6: in a bit of traffic which holds them up.

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Speaker 5: You know that.

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Speaker 6: You know, you got a George Russell and there a

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Speaker 6: Charlotte Clerk. You've got a few other jokers in the pack,

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Speaker 6: so you know it's possible. But in theory it should

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Speaker 6: be an easy win for Lando.

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Speaker 5: It could be in italics.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well what a great inside and the first answer.

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Speaker 2: But I'm interested about McLaren. Will Pearstrey and Norris be

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Speaker 2: told to work together to ensure Norris gets on the podium.

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Speaker 5: Well that's a very good question, isn't it. I'm sure.

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Speaker 6: I'm sure Oscar's still remembering what happened in the first

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Speaker 6: corner in Singapore when Lando came down inside him and

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Speaker 6: almost took him out, and things have not really been

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Speaker 6: the same since the year. They shake hands in front

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Speaker 6: of the cameras and they smile as they have to

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Speaker 6: because they're.

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Speaker 5: Highly paid professionals, But at the end of the day.

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Speaker 6: I don't think there's much love lost there in terms

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Speaker 6: of from Oscar's side of the garage, that's for sure.

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Speaker 5: I think. Yeah.

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Speaker 6: I mean, if it's Oscar, you've got no chance to

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Speaker 6: win the championship, this is your move to help Lando

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Speaker 6: secure it now, to stop red Bull move over?

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Speaker 5: Please.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I can see that happening, but it's not going

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Speaker 6: to happen if Oscar's got any chance.

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Speaker 5: Still of potentially winning the championship himself.

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Speaker 6: I mean, imagine if Oscar's second behind Max and Lando's

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Speaker 6: say fifth, what would happen then when McClaren might say

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Speaker 6: to Oscar, Oscar, will you drop back to sixth place

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Speaker 6: to give P four to Lando? But Oscar's going to say, wow,

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Speaker 6: I'm not going to give up my chance of winning

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Speaker 6: because Max might run out of fuel on the last lap.

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Speaker 5: Anything could happen. So you know, it's Macara and.

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Speaker 6: Have got themselves in a difficult situation really all year

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Speaker 6: by running these two really quick guys and having a

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Speaker 6: great car and not really having any understanding of how

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Speaker 6: to keep the piece between them. And you can't blame

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Speaker 6: the drivers because they just want to be as quick

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Speaker 6: as they can and they want to win the championship

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Speaker 6: quite obviously, so it's not easy, you know. And McClaren, interestingly,

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Speaker 6: they've got two new sets of hard tires going into

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Speaker 6: the race, so the only team that's sort of focused

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Speaker 6: on having the hard tires ready or having two new sets,

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Speaker 6: which means that's where the focus is. But the hard

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Speaker 6: tire is not really a quick tire, and I think

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Speaker 6: they've done that because they just want to have a

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Speaker 6: really conservative approach to the race. In case, for example,

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Speaker 6: there's a safety car early on and on this occasion

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Speaker 6: the penny drops and they do actually come in and

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Speaker 6: change tires, and then they got a hard tire that

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Speaker 6: could take them through to the rest of the race

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Speaker 6: without a pit stop or something like that.

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Speaker 5: But that's a very conservative way of.

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Speaker 6: Going into a Grand Prix weekend, or indeed a Saturday

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Speaker 6: Sunday weekend. Everybody else has got two new sets of mediums,

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Speaker 6: which is the quicker tire. So already McLaren looking a

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Speaker 6: little bit over conservative. I think they've I don't think

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Speaker 6: Lando gave it one hundred percent today. I think he

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Speaker 6: was there just to make sure that he was in

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Speaker 6: the top three, and I think that's okay in qualifying

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Speaker 6: for one lap, but in the race, you know, it's

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Speaker 6: a different thing. So many other factors can come into play.

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Speaker 2: You alluded to the tactics that Max the step and

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Speaker 2: might use earlier, bunching the field up, not necessarily just

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Speaker 2: shooting away and winning it from from you know, from

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Speaker 2: grid to check and flag. Can you just unpack for

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Speaker 2: a minute how he might do that, How he how

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Speaker 2: he can bunch the field behind him.

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Speaker 5: Oh, it's not not difficult to go. I mean, Max

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Speaker 5: is the best guy in.

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Speaker 6: The world at what we've can managing the tires and

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Speaker 6: still being very quick on the overall lap. And so

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Speaker 6: Max every race and even doing a lot of the

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Speaker 6: practice sessions, is not taking every income on the circuit flat.

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Speaker 6: He's not taking every quick corner flat. He's maybe backing

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Speaker 6: off a little bit just to look after the tires,

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Speaker 6: keep the tar temperatures down because the perellis are always

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Speaker 6: on the edge, and that's something he does incredibly well.

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Speaker 6: So in the race, if what he wants to do

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Speaker 6: is just drive as slowly as possible without anybody overtaking him,

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Speaker 6: he'll be that. He'll be quick in a straight line,

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Speaker 6: and the red Bull does have a slight speed advantage

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Speaker 6: in a straight line over the McLarens, and then he'll

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Speaker 6: start lifting the throttle on some of the corners where

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Speaker 6: it's impossible to overtake and just be in it. From

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Speaker 6: his perspective, he's looking after the tires, which is a

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Speaker 6: good thing. And from another perspective, he's keeping the you know,

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Speaker 6: the field bunched up behind him.

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Speaker 5: It's not a difficult thing to do at all.

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Speaker 2: Here's the second Red Bull driver. Even though he's departing.

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Speaker 2: Could Yuki Sonoda play a role here or see too

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Speaker 2: far back at tenth on the grid?

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Speaker 5: Well he could.

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Speaker 6: I mean Sergio Perez played a bit of a role

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Speaker 6: in twenty twenty one when he held up Lewis really comprehensively.

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Speaker 5: In a pit stop situation.

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Speaker 6: And so yeah, I mean, if Lando came out of

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Speaker 6: a pit stop behind and he was behind Yuki, he

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Speaker 6: has yet to stop in track position and get Yuki's tenth,

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Speaker 6: He's not you know, he's not fourteenth, He's tenth, which

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Speaker 6: is not bad. Then Yuki could potentially make it a

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Speaker 6: bit difficult. The rules now for impeding another driver really

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Speaker 6: really tough, but doesn't really matter. In the last race,

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Speaker 6: I mean they give Yuki a penalty. I mean that's him,

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Speaker 6: is it?

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Speaker 4: No? No, you're right.

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Speaker 2: How incredible, Peter, is it that we're even having this

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Speaker 2: conversation given how far behind Max the step and was

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Speaker 2: at one point in the season.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I think that's you know, that's one way of

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Speaker 6: looking at it, which is the half last fall way.

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Speaker 6: You know, this, this sort of comeback has never been achieved,

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Speaker 6: certainly in Formula one, not really in any form of motorsport,

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Speaker 6: and probably not in many other forms of sport at

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Speaker 6: all in general.

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Speaker 5: I mean, where he was.

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Speaker 6: And where he is now is just amazing. On the

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Speaker 6: other side of the coind, you could say, where have

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Speaker 6: Red Bull Bean all year? I mean, here they are

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Speaker 6: at the last race of the season, haven't made had

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Speaker 6: any changes to the car for the last three or

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Speaker 6: four races, and yet quite patently they have a very

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Speaker 6: very good racing car in Abadhabi. Not know, Okay, maybe

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Speaker 6: Lando wasn't one hundred percent flat out, but the Red

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Speaker 6: Bull's just there or thereabouts, and it makes you say, well,

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Speaker 6: where have they been them for half the year? I

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Speaker 6: mean there were some races where Max could barely get

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Speaker 6: out of Q two. That's the middle qualifying session and

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Speaker 6: yet here he is on the pole with two laps

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Speaker 6: that would have put him on the pole, and in

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Speaker 6: the middle session Q two he was right up there

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Speaker 6: on a US set of carers. I mean, unbelievably quick.

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Speaker 6: So you just have to say, what have a Red

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Speaker 6: Bull been doing really to let you know, to drop

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Speaker 6: the ball as much as they have this year. That's

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Speaker 6: the way I look at it, really. I mean if

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Speaker 6: they hadn't, Max would have been world champion easy in

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Speaker 6: a car as good as it is this weekend.

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Speaker 2: Isaac Headjar, we'll move into the second red Ball seat

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Speaker 2: next year. I mean, Yuki Sonoda hasn't been able to

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Speaker 2: drive that car to anywhere close to what Red Bull

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Speaker 2: were after. What indication is there, Peter that Isaac Hadjar

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Speaker 2: will be able to.

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Speaker 6: I think is zak is a is a much more

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Speaker 6: refined driver than Yuki Sonoda. Yuki's got only one way

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Speaker 6: of driving a car, which is really aggressive with the steering,

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Speaker 6: brakes and throttle, lots of car control.

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Speaker 5: Very brave, and that's about it.

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Speaker 6: You know, he doesn't really hasn't really got any better

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Speaker 6: over the last three or four years.

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Speaker 5: It's quick when you know when he's got a good

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Speaker 5: set of tires and the car's balance.

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Speaker 6: But when the car's not in that state, he's not

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Speaker 6: really quick. He can't get the best from it. It

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Speaker 6: makes too many mistakes. Zak is a very different sort

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Speaker 6: of driver. He's got a much better feel, better softer touch.

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Speaker 6: He's more supple with his inputs. He can create a

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Speaker 6: bigger sweet spot around which to operate the car, so

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Speaker 6: he's not susceptible to losing so much time when he

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Speaker 6: does enable to make the odd mistake. And he's got

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Speaker 6: a very good brain on his head, which head on

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Speaker 6: his shoulders rather which you know, which enables him to learn.

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Speaker 5: He's not afraid to learn, and I think alongside Max

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Speaker 5: he'll learn a lot.

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Speaker 6: And it will probably be in the area of being

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Speaker 6: less emotional and just sort of being a little bit

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Speaker 6: more straightforward in the way he lives his life and

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Speaker 6: just just becoming quieter and calmer. And he's very quick,

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Speaker 6: he's very very good. He's a driver of the Stapanilk.

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Speaker 6: I mean, whether he'll ever be as good as Max

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Speaker 6: is another question, but he's definitely on that side of

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Speaker 6: the globe at the moment.

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Speaker 2: And just the word on Liam Lawson has said at

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Speaker 2: Racing Balls for next year, confirmed earlier this week, this

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Speaker 2: was widely expected. I think, what have you seen from

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Speaker 2: him in terms of his improvement this year? In what

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Speaker 2: would you like to see from Liam in twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I think he's improved a lot in the second

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Speaker 6: half of the year in that he hasn't really changed

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Speaker 6: the way he drives. He drives he's a bit sort

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Speaker 6: of smoother, softer version of Yuki Sanoda, I think, and

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Speaker 6: he's never really gravitated towards the end of the spectrum

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Speaker 6: in which Max and Zak hadjar and Charlotte Clark's it.

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Speaker 6: But he's I think he's started to come to terms

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Speaker 6: with that and he's starting to get the best from

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Speaker 6: the way he does drive with just more road dust

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Speaker 6: on him, obviously with experience. And also you look at

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Speaker 6: Carlos Science drives in a very similar way to Liam Lawson,

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Speaker 6: and I guess he's probably looking at Carlos and seeing

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Speaker 6: how Carlos has managed to package that now.

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Speaker 5: And make it work.

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Speaker 6: And Yeah, he's making fewer mistakes, He's doing a better

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Speaker 6: job on a consistent basis. He's not as quick as

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Speaker 6: I zak Aja for the reasons I was just talking about.

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Speaker 6: And I think next year he will continue to improve

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Speaker 6: because being the senior driver, which he obviously will be

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Speaker 6: at racing balls, I think, well, that will have that

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Speaker 6: will have an effect on his approach to racing, and

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Speaker 6: he'll become more mature and he'll be more circumspect about

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Speaker 6: the way he goes about racing and driving and thinking.

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Speaker 6: And I think he'll I think he'll definitely improve next

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Speaker 6: year and he could end up, you know, in the

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Speaker 6: in the Carlos Science category. Quite Cabler winning Grand Prix

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Speaker 6: in a good team, in a good car, but not

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Speaker 6: ever able to take it to a Charlotte Clerk or

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Speaker 6: a Lewis Hamilton Lewis AT's peaked that is, or a

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Speaker 6: Max or possibly even an I zak Kjar.

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Speaker 2: That's all to come. What we do have in the

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Speaker 2: next twenty four hours or stars are thrilling into this

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Speaker 2: year is Grand Prix Championship. Peter, You've given us incredible insight.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us across New Zealand.

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Speaker 5: Ah my pleasure.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Peter. Peter Windsor if one broadcaster and journalist.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live

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