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Speaker 2: This is Sportsfix Howard By News Talks ed B.
Speaker 3: Hi there and welcome into the Sports Fix podcast. At
Speaker 3: the start of another week, the back end of another
Speaker 3: busy sporting weekend. It is Monday, March seventeen. Happy Sir
Speaker 3: Patrick's Day to those who celebrate. I'm Jason Pine on
Speaker 3: Sports Fix. Today we look back over the weekend and
Speaker 3: in particular to Melbourne where Liam Lawson had a challenging
Speaker 3: weekend in his first event as a full time Formula
Speaker 3: One driver with red Ball. We're going to break it
Speaker 3: down with Eric Thompson, our motor sport expert. I've got
Speaker 3: a few subliminal thoughts on it as well. We'll kick
Speaker 3: it around in the Chamber two with a larger few.
Speaker 3: And also the Warriors are they back? The Crusaders are
Speaker 3: they back? And what's happened to the Blues in Super Rugby?
Speaker 3: All of that and the latest sports news going around today,
Speaker 3: so let's get into it. In other news, let's get
Speaker 3: underway with some of the big sports stories around today.
Speaker 3: New Zealand's push for victory at the sou GP event
Speaker 3: in La had been foiled. The Greatest Neighbors to the
Speaker 3: North As Canada comes to Los Angeles and dreams the
Speaker 3: top prize. The Kiwis will hold on for second, Australia third.
Speaker 3: The black Falls were first round the first mark, but
Speaker 3: a brief touchdown off the foils allowed the Canadians to
Speaker 3: snatch a lead that they never relinquished. A golfing highlight
Speaker 3: away from the top of the leaderboard in the final
Speaker 3: round of the Players Championship at Sawgrass. You can get
Speaker 3: it over that bunker there right in front of the
Speaker 3: green with a little turn.
Speaker 2: You used the slope.
Speaker 4: About that shot.
Speaker 3: He didn't need to use the slope.
Speaker 2: Ticket rate habit.
Speaker 3: That is the sound of Kegan Bradley holding the first
Speaker 3: as of the week and jubilation for Newcastle beating Liverpool
Speaker 3: two to one and the League Cup final, their first
Speaker 3: domestic trophy since winning the FA Cup in nineteen fifty five,
Speaker 3: a trophy.
Speaker 1: Dissecting the sporting agenda, It's Sportsfix with Jason Vine.
Speaker 3: On the Sports Fix podcast Let's Talk Formula One. Liam
Speaker 3: Lawson has had his first outing as a full time
Speaker 3: at red ball driver in Formula One unfortunately not quite
Speaker 3: going the way he would have hoped in Melbourne over
Speaker 3: the weekend, registering a d n F on race day
Speaker 3: yesterday after a difficult time in practice and also in qualifying.
Speaker 3: Let's break this down, bringing in motorsport expert Eric Thompson, Ete,
Speaker 3: thanks for joining us. How will Liam be feeling after
Speaker 3: the weekend.
Speaker 5: He'll be a bit annoyed actually. And if there's one
Speaker 5: thing about Liam, what Christian Horner and doctor Marco Helmet
Speaker 5: Helmut Marco think of him as his resilience and his
Speaker 5: mental strength. You know, he's he's not the fastest outright
Speaker 5: sort of pure talented driver on the grid, but he's
Speaker 5: very very good. But it's that mental fortitude. So he'll
Speaker 5: be going away thinking, yes, things didn't quite work out
Speaker 5: for me. I did no running in free practice FP three,
Speaker 5: no running at all. So our whole practice SESSON session
Speaker 5: on a circuit that he didn't know Pony had never
Speaker 5: been on before, had no experience of in any sort
Speaker 5: of vehicle, so missing that, I think, and that's when
Speaker 5: the things started to get a bit difficult for him.
Speaker 5: And then that torrential rain on race day and it
Speaker 5: was normally very good in the web, but the one
Speaker 5: good thing and as Christian Horner has come out and
Speaker 5: International Pressure said, he set the second fastest lap time
Speaker 5: of all the drivers in the dry when the race
Speaker 5: was dry. So he'll be be hanging on to that
Speaker 5: pony and is just going yep. I can when things
Speaker 5: are going right, I'm as fast, if not faster than
Speaker 5: most of the pack.
Speaker 3: How much of what happened over the last three days
Speaker 3: et was out of William Lawson's control, I would say quite.
Speaker 5: A lot of it. First of all, the weather number
Speaker 5: two that the recharging system and the battery's going flat
Speaker 5: and FP three so no running time at all. And
Speaker 5: also they rolled the dice and left them out there
Speaker 5: on a set of tires that hopefully hoping that the
Speaker 5: track would dry. It didn't, so he was the only
Speaker 5: one on sort of intermediate tires and the pouring rain.
Speaker 5: So of course he just aquiplaned and stood off and
Speaker 5: hit the wall. So yeah, you know, some people tell
Speaker 5: it was his mistake, you know he stood off. No,
Speaker 5: they rolled the dice. You know, if that had worked
Speaker 5: by and the sun had come out and that track
Speaker 5: had dried at that stage, he was intent so he
Speaker 5: could have easily challenged for the top five if it
Speaker 5: had suddenly gone dry. But that's the way it is.
Speaker 5: So if it worked, you look like, you know, you're magnificent,
Speaker 5: and if it doesn't, you know, you look like a
Speaker 5: bit of a well, you know, you should have come
Speaker 5: in from the tires. But it's the whole team, it's
Speaker 5: not he doesn't make the decisions all on his own.
Speaker 3: Speaking of the team aspect of this, can you just
Speaker 3: clarify for me the car that Liam's in is it
Speaker 3: identical to Verstappens pretty much?
Speaker 5: And at the moment they're trying to change it because
Speaker 5: in the first couple of practices it was noted and
Speaker 5: you could see watching it, fans watching you could see
Speaker 5: that that's of Staffins car had a different nose on
Speaker 5: to Lim Lawson's car. So they're trying to work out
Speaker 5: to get the car to suit limb And because of
Speaker 5: the lack of practice sessions pre season or between the seasons,
Speaker 5: you know, they've cut way way way way way way
Speaker 5: way back on testing and all that sort of stuff,
Speaker 5: so they couldn't really get the car set up before
Speaker 5: the Australian gone pre four Lawson, So it's a little
Speaker 5: bit like we've got to try and get the cars
Speaker 5: working for him and the way he drives whilst are
Speaker 5: you're practicing for a race but difficult.
Speaker 3: Indeed, indeed, because it's still important, isn't it that Liam
Speaker 3: performs well across the season, because apart from obviously Max
Speaker 3: for stapp and being you know, their man for the
Speaker 3: drivers Championship, Lilliam still has to pick up points, doesn't
Speaker 3: he for Red Bull to help them in the constructors Championship.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, Finally, you've nailed it because all teams are worried
Speaker 5: about I mean, they like it when the driver wins
Speaker 5: the championship for them, but all they're worried about is
Speaker 5: the Constructors' Championships or the teams championships because that's where
Speaker 5: the money comes from. The tens upon tens of millions
Speaker 5: of euros comes from that. And with Red Bull dropping
Speaker 5: from first in the Constructors Championship in two twenty three
Speaker 5: to I think it was third last year in twenty
Speaker 5: twenty four, there was a difference of about I think
Speaker 5: it was thirty eight million Europe. You know that's that's
Speaker 5: not jump change, that's not what you find in the
Speaker 5: stop draw. So Liam Liam is expected to be within
Speaker 5: I think Christian Horner and Halimaco said, you know, within
Speaker 5: something like five to seven tenths of a second of
Speaker 5: Max Tostappen. But this is his first hit out. He
Speaker 5: goes to China next weekend again circuit he's never been on,
Speaker 5: so that'll be interesting. But I reckon he'll be given
Speaker 5: probably a good five to six races before, you know,
Speaker 5: like management media will probably be having a go soon.
Speaker 5: But you know, the people who actually make the decisions,
Speaker 5: you know, they're going to give him a bit of
Speaker 5: a chance. So it's just it's the first hit out
Speaker 5: and nothing really went well. I mean, you've got to
Speaker 5: look all through all the categories, you know, with the
Speaker 5: rain and the weather and stuff. Especially on that day,
Speaker 5: it was just a and that mountain circuit Ponty is
Speaker 5: a weird, weird place. It's a public road, so it's
Speaker 5: got a crown in the middle of the road, which
Speaker 5: means you know, it's not purpose built track. It's got
Speaker 5: off camber corners and it's just got white lines everywhere,
Speaker 5: and the people are complaining with all the advent around
Speaker 5: the lake park with the cycle tracks and all those
Speaker 5: sort of things. It's more light lines and more colored
Speaker 5: nine surfer rains. You're hiding on that circuit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you've you've brought up a good point in
Speaker 3: terms of what China will be like. It'll be different, right,
Speaker 3: more of a I guess, a traditional racetrack, but still,
Speaker 3: as you've said, one that is unfamiliar to Liam.
Speaker 5: Right, yes, still unfamiliar, but that has never really been
Speaker 5: an issue. I think what the major problem was at
Speaker 5: Melbourne with the weather and at being a street circuit.
Speaker 5: Now he won't, you know, like you'll be on the simular.
Speaker 5: You've already been on the simulator loads of times anyway.
Speaker 3: But it's a purpose.
Speaker 5: Built racetrack, so he'll feel more comfortable, more at home,
Speaker 5: and I think he'll bounce back really really.
Speaker 3: Well, very much looking forward to seeing that eat. Thanks,
Speaker 3: indeed for your analysis on the Sports Fixed podcast that
Speaker 3: it's my a sport expert, Eric Thompson Sportsfix. So what
Speaker 3: can we take from Liam Lawson's first Grand Prix as
Speaker 3: a full time driver for Red Bull. Hell, I'm sure
Speaker 3: be quite keen to hop on a plane and get
Speaker 3: out of Melbourne. There was so much hype around his
Speaker 3: Formula One debut, a lot of excitement I'm sure Liam
Speaker 3: Lawson himself was looking forward to putting on a really
Speaker 3: good showing at Albert Park in Melbourne. But unfortunately, for
Speaker 3: a variety of reasons, many of them out of his
Speaker 3: own control, it just didn't come together for Liam Lawson.
Speaker 3: He had trouble in practice, he had trouble in qualifying.
Speaker 3: It meant that on an unfamiliar track he had very
Speaker 3: very little driving time before the race itself yesterday, and
Speaker 3: in horrendous conditions which actually, ironically enough, might have suited
Speaker 3: Liam Lawson in terms of closing things up. He had
Speaker 3: to start from pitt Lane. He qualified eighteenth, but then
Speaker 3: they made some changes to the car and under the
Speaker 3: rules of Formula one that meant that he had to
Speaker 3: start from pitt Lane, so right right at the back.
Speaker 3: He was doing okay. He was going along the right
Speaker 3: past a few guys and some of the drivers crashed out.
Speaker 3: At one point he was up near the top ten,
Speaker 3: but again bad luck befell him and the team orders
Speaker 3: he stayed out on a certain set of tires while
Speaker 3: the number one in Red Bull, Max Fstapan, came in
Speaker 3: to get his tires changed, and while he was out there,
Speaker 3: Liam Lawson had a crash, hit the wall and for
Speaker 3: him that was curtain's DNF in his first IF one
Speaker 3: race as a full time driver. Look, it's not terminal.
Speaker 3: This is the first event of twenty four, Bob McMurray
Speaker 3: said to me on the radio on Saturday. This is
Speaker 3: day two of seventy two days. Nothing that happens here
Speaker 3: can to find Liam Lawson one way or the other.
Speaker 3: Of course, he would have liked to have start started
Speaker 3: rather in more positive fashion, but it just wasn't to be.
Speaker 3: So now they jump on a plane, get to China
Speaker 3: and go again. Liam Lawson was put into that seat
Speaker 3: for a number of reasons, one of which was his
Speaker 3: mental resilience. They saw in him an ability to not
Speaker 3: ride the highs too high or the lows too low,
Speaker 3: and just to keep on keeping on and looking ahead
Speaker 3: to the next event. The next event is in China
Speaker 3: this coming weekend. He doesn't have too long to dwell
Speaker 3: on what happened in Melbourne, so here's for a much
Speaker 3: better showing in practice and qualifying and in the race itself,
Speaker 3: an event two of twenty four for Lilliam Lawson this
Speaker 3: coming weekend.
Speaker 2: The Chamber is now in session on Sportsvex.
Speaker 3: On the Sports Fix podcast. Let's kick around the few
Speaker 3: outcomes and issues from the sporting weekend in the People's Chamber.
Speaker 3: Elijah was here, the Warriors did well on Friday night.
Speaker 3: Don't want to get to that, Elijah, But can we
Speaker 3: start with Liam Lawson and his challenging weekend in Melbourne.
Speaker 3: It's early on in the season and I know that
Speaker 3: he will say, look, it's just one event of twenty four,
Speaker 3: but he must be quite keen to see the back
Speaker 3: of Melbourne Liam Lawson.
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 6: Probably not the way Liam would have wanted his Red
Speaker 6: Bull tenure to start out. Unfortunate circumstances for him. Obviously,
Speaker 6: it was raining in Melbourne. I don't think it's a
Speaker 6: track that he's too familiar with either, so he would
Speaker 6: have had to learn over the weekend in terms of
Speaker 6: the turns and the sectors over in Melbourne.
Speaker 4: And yeah, again there's the weather.
Speaker 6: Conditions proved to play a big role in him eventually
Speaker 6: crashing out on lap forty five. So not the ideal
Speaker 6: way to start things off for Liam, but definitely I'm
Speaker 6: sure he would have It would have been a big
Speaker 6: learning curve for him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's yeah. I think that sort doesn't it. You know,
Speaker 3: use any cliche you like, you win or you learn
Speaker 3: and you know whatever. But he is under an intense spotlight.
Speaker 3: He'd want to stay off social media elige. I don't
Speaker 3: know about you, mate, but I've had a look at
Speaker 3: some of the social media and I know people have
Speaker 3: their favorites and have their allegiance and all that sort
Speaker 3: of thing. But but yeah, I don't know that i'd
Speaker 3: be looking at social media if I was Liam Lawson.
Speaker 3: A lot of the stuff that's coming out is I
Speaker 3: pretty need you given it's only been one race.
Speaker 6: For sure, I think it's a big overreaction from those
Speaker 6: I guess who are critics or doubters of Liam Lawson.
Speaker 6: But I guess if you look at you and I Piney,
Speaker 6: we have the more optimists when it comes to Liam Lawson.
Speaker 6: And you know, we know how good Liam Lawson is
Speaker 6: when he gets going. We know he's part of a
Speaker 6: great team and he's got a great teammates alongside him
Speaker 6: and Maxvistappens, so we can only hope that things.
Speaker 4: Can go up from here for Liam.
Speaker 6: And unfortunately, I think the next rounds in China, which
Speaker 6: is another track that's not too familiar for Liam, so
Speaker 6: that he'll again will have to be a big weekend
Speaker 6: of learning how that track goes. But yeah, I'm definitely
Speaker 6: positive when it comes to Liam, and listen, it's only
Speaker 6: one round, i'd say.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Bob McMurray said a really interesting thing on the radio
Speaker 3: over the weekend. He said it was on Saturday. He said,
Speaker 3: today is day two of seventy two. You know there
Speaker 3: are twenty four events, each of them three days. It's
Speaker 3: still so early, so yeah, let's see what happens in China.
Speaker 3: Luckily for Liam he gets the chance to quickly put
Speaker 3: that behind him and move on to the Shanghai Grand
Speaker 3: Prix coming up this weekend. On the radio on Friday,
Speaker 3: I said, I wasn't worried about Liam Lawson over the weekend,
Speaker 3: but I was very worried about the Warriors. Turns out
Speaker 3: I had nothing to worry about it all.
Speaker 4: No, definitely not what a way to turn things around from.
Speaker 6: I guess the disaster you'd call them the opening round
Speaker 6: in Las Vegas. It's always nice, I guess for the
Speaker 6: Warriors to be back at home in front of the
Speaker 6: mount smart, faithful and a great performance all around the
Speaker 6: Ford pact dominated the co captains Barnetts and Fisher, Harris
Speaker 6: and Aaron Clark, who I think could be one of
Speaker 6: the best pickups the season for the Warriors. And I
Speaker 6: guess for a playmaker like Luke Metcalf, who has copped
Speaker 6: some unfair criticism after his opening round performance, he delivered
Speaker 6: and he definitely proved some of those doubts is wrong
Speaker 6: with a very strong performance over many against Manley.
Speaker 4: So great one for the Warriors.
Speaker 3: I've explain this to me because it's basically the same team,
Speaker 3: right Clark and for Ford. Otherwise it's the same thirteen
Speaker 3: and it's the same seventeen. So is this just the
Speaker 3: nature of being a Warriors fan that you just have
Speaker 3: to expect Vegas one week in Mount Smart the next.
Speaker 6: I'd say, so you have to ride with the up
Speaker 6: and ups and downs. It's a roller coaster over a
Speaker 6: Mountain Smarts. I know Auckland c have the fairest wheel
Speaker 6: set up over there, but the Warriors, they've already had
Speaker 6: a roller coaster there the entire time. So I guess
Speaker 6: for Warriors fans, we'll see what happens next, whether they
Speaker 6: can build from this momentum and carry that momentum going,
Speaker 6: but definitely a huge confidence boost at least if you're
Speaker 6: the Warriors and.
Speaker 3: The Roosters are next, that's just coming Friday night. But
Speaker 3: they beat the Panthers over the weekend, I'm not sure
Speaker 3: too many people saw their coming.
Speaker 4: Definitely not.
Speaker 6: And I think we've seen in the opening two rounds
Speaker 6: there's been a lot of interesting probably upsets you could
Speaker 6: call them, or at least a lot of interesting results.
Speaker 6: I wouldn't say there's a standout top team at least
Speaker 6: so far. I mean, we know the Panthers have won
Speaker 6: the last four, but the way they've it's completely new
Speaker 6: roster for them, so they're not as dominant as we've
Speaker 6: seen from them in the past few years. So I
Speaker 6: do think the NRL, at least in the couple first
Speaker 6: opening rounds, as a wide opener, i'd say.
Speaker 3: Super right be to finish round five's in the books.
Speaker 3: I'm a bit worried about your blues. I have to
Speaker 3: say one win from five. Those are those are Crusaderes
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four numbers.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh, thank you for that, honey.
Speaker 6: I mean, yeah, it is a bit tough when we're
Speaker 6: languishing near the bottom, but I will I will say
Speaker 6: we've had a couple of close losses to the Brumbies
Speaker 6: and the Chiefs, so I think if we do win
Speaker 6: those games, then things would look a little bit different
Speaker 6: for us on the table. I wouldn't say I'm in
Speaker 6: panic mode, but I do think there's a lot of
Speaker 6: execution that needs to be worked on with the Blues.
Speaker 4: And you know, I'm not saying overhaul the whole vern
Speaker 4: ball game plan.
Speaker 6: But maybe they might need to be some slight tweaks
Speaker 6: to make considering defenses. They know what to expect when
Speaker 6: they come come up against the Blues, so I wouldn't
Speaker 6: say I'm panicking, but they do need to turn things around,
Speaker 6: especially when they've got a high flying team like the
Speaker 6: Crusaders coming into town this week.
Speaker 3: It shows how they've been really because even though they've
Speaker 3: lost four out of five games, their points differential is
Speaker 3: only minus seventeen, so not like they've been having it.
Speaker 3: Actually say, one point losses in their last two and
Speaker 3: then look, there's too much quality in that side for
Speaker 3: them to stay down there for too long. Although I
Speaker 3: guess we said that about the Crusaders last year. They
Speaker 3: did have a number of injuries meantime, they've got the
Speaker 3: sun on their backs on you know, on a lovely
Speaker 3: day in christ Year. It's running in all sorts of tries.
Speaker 3: Mac As, spring of five tries, sever reesa hat trick.
Speaker 3: The Crusaders could be back.
Speaker 6: A great day if you played the Crusader's back three
Speaker 6: and your fantasy team, I say exactly, Macas, bring us
Speaker 6: downd out. I think we've seen the class of sever
Speaker 6: rees and Will Jordan in particular. We knew this when
Speaker 6: Jordan was missing last season for the Crusaders and how
Speaker 6: desperate they needed Will Jordan in the lineup. And now
Speaker 6: that he's back, everything's clicking on all cylinders, it seems
Speaker 6: for the Crusaders and particularly that back line. So I'm
Speaker 6: excited to see how they go against the Blues at
Speaker 6: Eden Park.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm that is a game I am very much
Speaker 3: looking forward to as well. It looks like the standout
Speaker 3: fixture in round six Blues Crusaders five past seven on
Speaker 3: Saturday night. I think we can probably have a yarn
Speaker 3: about that on the People's Chamber next Monday. Elijah, enjoy
Speaker 3: your week mate, Always good to chat the sporting issues
Speaker 3: of the weekend with you.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for new needing a vix.
Speaker 2: We've got just the ticket.
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