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The Motorsport Brief - Liam Lawson’s back · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:06
  We're opening the garage door for the new year with a rising star of Formula One who's landed a plum drive for 2025.
• 0:15
  G'day everyone, Rusty here.
• 0:16
  Hope you had a good break and are looking forward to a big season of motorsport.
• 0:21
  I'm in New Zealand for this episode.
• 0:23
  Topo,
• 0:24
  Home of the Kiwi Supercars Round held a fantastic race meeting at the weekend.
• 0:29
  The historic GP was this wonderful celebration of Formula Atlantic and more.
• 0:35
  Huge amount of work went into bringing a number of cars across the ditch from Australia too.
• 0:41
  Greg Murphy raced.
• 0:42
  Stephen Richards has bought himself a cool car.
• 0:45
  Andrew Miedeke was back in an open wheeler, encouraged by Malcolm Osler, who you can find in our library.
• 0:52
  And Malcolm also competed.
• 0:53
  I think he's enjoying rewinding the clock a little in post-BAR and Jaguar life.
• 0:59
  The unstoppable Kiwi, Kenny Smith.
• 1:02
  who I must get on the pod, had the helmet on too.
• 1:05
  He's 83 now.
• 1:07
  And this marks his 66th year of racing.
• 1:10
  Proper legend.
• 1:11
  The organisers had some other legends there too.
• 1:14
  Paul Radisic, Craig Baird, David Brabham, Steve Millen, and former F1 and IndyCar driver Roberto Moreno, plus Ross and Jimmy Stone with the fully restored 2005 Supercars Championship winning BA Falcon.
• 1:30
  And Russell Ingle came over...
• 1:31
  to reunite and drive with it.
• 1:33
  How good.
• 1:34
  It is beautiful that car and it was a really nice walk down memory lane.
• 1:38
  Now if that is not enough, Tony Quinn had his six-wheel Tyrrell F1 car cutting laps.
• 1:45
  That thing is mega.
• 1:46
  The sound is unbelievable.
• 1:48
  There were McLaren Can-Am cars on track, the Yardley McLaren that the late great Denny Holm raced and more.
• 1:55
  Plus it was the opening round of what we affectionately call the Toyota Racing Series.
• 2:00
  In its 2016
• 2:00
  20th year it has unearthed and helped some serious names on the pathway lando norris yuki sunoda lance stroll mitch evans nick cassidy the list goes on supercars champion will brown has wanted to race this class for some time and he's been able to make three of the five rounds work in his schedule and it was awesome to see will in an open wheeler again
• 2:24
  A relatively recent graduate from this class is Liam Lawson.
• 2:28
  It really helped cement his position as a Red Bull junior.
• 2:32
  Before the Kiwi headed back to Europe to take up his spot with Red Bull Racing for the season alongside Max Verstappen, he came to Topo.
• 2:40
  He was a massive drawcard on the Sunday.
• 2:44
  Big crowd there to see him and wish him well.
• 2:47
  He's still the same guy, if you ask me, despite the kind of meteoric rise.
• 2:52
  What's that line out of the Eminem song?
• 2:54
  If you had one shot, one opportunity, he has grabbed it with both hands.
• 2:59
  And he wasn't afraid to get the elbows out last year against the establishment to prove...
• 3:04
  his worthiness.
• 3:05
  Wouldn't you do the same in that sort of scenario?
• 3:08
  A lot of sacrifice from the Lawson family has gone into this.
• 3:13
  You sense we will see good things from him in 2025.
• 3:17
  And he was good enough to chat with us during our live TV coverage.
• 3:21
  Liam, our host, Stephen McIver, for Aussies listening, McIver is an all-round sports broadcaster.
• 3:28
  Think like a Kiwi version of
• 3:35
  Welcome, mate.
• 3:35
  Thanks for having me.
• 3:36
  Has the move to Red Bull Racing taken one of the most sought-after spots on the grid, that seat that Sergio Perez had, has that all sunk in yet?
• 3:46
  Honestly, no.
• 3:47
  As much as it needs to, because I'm about to go to work and it's about to get very, very busy.
• 3:52
  But no, right now it's...
• 3:54
  Yeah, it's not quite real.
• 3:57
  Obviously, I'm in a more unique position now.
• 3:59
  Every other year I've gone into the season and not really had an idea of where I was going to end up later that year, whereas this is the first time now that I actually can go into a season, prepare properly, know exactly what's coming up.
• 4:09
  So, yeah, it's exciting, but I'm sure when I get over there again in a week's time, it's going to get very real very fast.
• 4:19
  Share a little backstory for us, if you can.
• 4:21
  When you got the call up to do this, where were you?
• 4:25
  What was your reaction?
• 4:26
  Who's the first person you called?
• 4:27
  You called mum and dad.
• 4:28
  What'd you do?
• 4:28
  Yeah, I was, so I'd known about the opportunity for the seat, basically, that was coming up.
• 4:35
  I knew that the team wanted to potentially make a change with how things were going.
• 4:39
  And then I was in a good position, so I was obviously under pressure to try and do a good job each weekend.
• 4:45
  But they give us, you know, very little information.
• 4:47
  So I wasn't super clear on what was going on.
• 4:49
  It was just the bare minimum.
• 4:50
  You have this opportunity.
• 4:51
  You need to perform.
• 4:53
  And I just tried to do that, basically.
• 4:54
  So I knew about the meeting that Red Bull were having.
• 4:58
  And...
• 4:59
  uh christian was kind enough to call me afterwards um and and give me the news um and i called my dad and uh yeah it was it was it was very very cool obviously it's been a long time a lot of work um and especially like the last 12 months were just very up and down emotionally with where i was i wasn't sure if i was going to be in you know six months ago i didn't even have a seat so um yeah it's it's exciting
• 5:21
  All right, you used one word, pressure.
• 5:23
  You're going into a pressure cooker environment.
• 5:26
  You're going to be a teammate for the four-time world champion.
• 5:29
  Kenny Smith said to us yesterday, he believes that you have the mentality to push him and even beat him and handle that pressure.
• 5:36
  How do you respond to that?
• 5:38
  I think...
• 5:40
  It's obviously there's, you know, I have to be realistic.
• 5:43
  And so realistically, I know going in, I'm not, I'm going to a whole bunch of tracks I've never done before.
• 5:48
  And it's my first full season.
• 5:50
  So I'm not expecting to go in there and fight with them for race wins instantly.
• 5:54
  But obviously I'm expecting to,
• 5:56
  to perform well and do the job that the team needs me to do.
• 6:00
  And I'm obviously not there to lose either.
• 6:02
  I'm only there for one reason.
• 6:04
  So it's exciting.
• 6:06
  I think Red Bull's environment for the last six years has always been under pressure.
• 6:11
  That's how it started when I was 16 and they signed me.
• 6:15
  I had the phone calls from Helmut every other week about, you know, do the job, otherwise you're axed.
• 6:20
  And those kind of moments, obviously, as a young driver, they put a lot of pressure on you and that builds you really for...
• 6:26
  for F1.
• 6:26
  So I feel like I've sort of been developed for this opportunity.
• 6:30
  You have, when you look back on it, right?
• 6:31
  A couple of races, subbing for Daniel Ricciardo, then you're on the sidelines again.
• 6:35
  You get an opportunity with Vicar, but there's no necessarily kind of certainty there.
• 6:40
  But in the moments when, you know, you were with Fernando Alonso and he seemed a little fired up and so on, is it because in all in your defence, is it because you just had to make the most of what seemed like a limited opportunity and put your best foot forward?
• 6:51
  You can't, you can't actually get too reserved against someone like that.
• 6:55
  that a double world champion can you no exactly i think um i went in there obviously in a unique position i had five six races that i knew i was going to get and uh that was my stint to prove that i was worthy of an f1 seat whether that was in v car or red bull that was all i had the opportunity for these guys you know have raced especially for nano you know he's raced a long time so um i went in there and made the most of every single lap that i that i drove in the car and uh
• 7:21
  I didn't intend on pissing him off, but obviously I just raced him how I race people, and it did that.
• 7:28
  So, yeah, I just tried to make the most of it.
• 7:30
  Do you deliberately make that intention?
• 7:32
  I mean, you've got quite lippy, you know.
• 7:34
  There was a lot of comments saying, this is young Liam Lawson, but they need to stop being so lippy.
• 7:37
  And we don't see that.
• 7:39
  Now we're seeing it.
• 7:40
  Have you changed the way...
• 7:41
  I don't reckon that's a fair... No, no, it was just a...
• 7:43
  It was on socials, right, and things like that.
• 7:45
  And I thought, well, this is not the Liam we know.
• 7:47
  Are you changing the dynamic to tell them, I am here to race you and get out of my way?
• 7:53
  Honestly, I don't think I've changed at all.
• 7:56
  I don't think it's something maybe I wasn't on TV enough before or something like that.
• 8:00
  I don't know.
• 8:00
  But basically this is how I've always raced.
• 8:04
  And especially with the pathway to F1, quite often it feels unfair.
• 8:08
  And I've always had to obviously make the most of every opportunity.
• 8:12
  Now I've been extremely lucky with the timing of everything.
• 8:14
  So, yeah, I went in there and raced exactly how I feel like I always have.
• 8:20
  We like it.
• 8:21
  knowing, knowing, maybe knowing that extra bit of pressure, knowing what was on the line, maybe that, um, obviously sparked a few more, um, I know some of my not so finest moments, but, um, obviously I'm always learning as, as well.
• 8:32
  And I learned from those.
• 8:34
  I love that.
• 8:35
  It is not about a deliberate want to kind of ruffle the feathers of the establishment, but it was a moment where he had to put a stake in the ground, and he showed he was there to race, and that is the stuff that Red Bull Racing clearly noticed.
• 8:49
  We are not done with this chat yet.
• 8:51
  A quick break here on Rusty's Garage.
• 8:53
  More with Liam Lawson right after this.
• 8:58
  You're listening to The Motorsport Brief, our first garage shortcast for 2025.
• 9:02
  This, can you believe it, is our seventh year, our seventh season of doing the Rusty's Garage podcast.
• 9:09
  Thanks to all of you for the loyalty, the support.
• 9:12
  Keep those guest suggestions coming in via social media too.
• 9:15
  If you're enjoying this one, you can find an earlier chat with Liam Lawson in our library back in September 2023 on the eve of the Singapore GP.
• 9:25
  I'm grateful to get him back on again.
• 9:27
  And I owe a big thanks, actually, to Josie Spillane, David Tunnicliffe and the NextGen NZ Championship management and broadcast teams for helping to make it all happen.
• 9:38
  Let's get back to the convo now.
• 9:41
  Tony Quinn, who owns these venues, said to me very recently, he believes Formula One fans, either through the Netflix series, through what you're going to do generally, are going to see a bit more of your star.
• 9:52
  Tell us a bit about music and maybe a little bit of singing.
• 9:54
  Can you share a bit on that?
• 9:56
  No, not really.
• 9:57
  Not really?
• 9:58
  No, I mean, I've played... Definitely not.
• 10:00
  Definitely not.
• 10:01
  But I have played music my whole life, and I'd love to do more of it in the future, but obviously...
• 10:07
  Now is probably not the time to expand on that.
• 10:10
  Anyone got a good time.
• 10:11
  Yeah, it's been something I've always enjoyed doing, and I use it as downtime as well after races, going back home.
• 10:18
  But, yeah, nothing released right now.
• 10:21
  Okay.
• 10:21
  Before we let you go, Grand Prix is not too far away.
• 10:25
  How much excitement, how many butterflies have you got, knowing it's close and you're joining this team?
• 10:31
  It's, yeah, it's exciting, especially obviously with Melbourne up first.
• 10:34
  You know, I would love to have a race in New Zealand.
• 10:38
  That's the dream one day.
• 10:39
  But Melbourne's the closest thing.
• 10:41
  So, yeah, it's exciting.
• 10:43
  But as I said, it's a track I haven't done.
• 10:45
  And it's going to be really, really tough.
• 10:47
  You know, we have three practice sessions.
• 10:50
  And to try and make the most of that, we don't really do much pre-season testing.
• 10:53
  So, in fact, we do one.
• 10:55
  test which everybody does together so yeah it's going to be hard um but i'm i'm just excited i obviously now i have the opportunity laid out in front of me it's up to me to to make the most of it and deliver you get a chance to have a summer in new zealand you get to see the amazing adoration of these fans what a great
• 11:13
  launch pad for you to go into the year.
• 11:15
  Give people a sense of what you do from this point.
• 11:17
  Do you start to just totally immerse yourself, SIM time, data, understanding what Max does with that car as you've been doing anyway?
• 11:24
  Is that the kind of approach from this point forward?
• 11:27
  It is, especially when you get over there.
• 11:28
  I think once you're over and you're working with the team, you're in the environment for basically that 11 months, you're just locked in and you don't really think about anything else.
• 11:37
  It just consumes everything.
• 11:39
  So it's important to...
• 11:40
  take a step back from it, which is what I've really done when I've been home.
• 11:44
  In the back of my mind, knowing what's coming out, but at the same time trying to make the most of it.
• 11:47
  So to everybody who came out today, thank you.
• 11:50
  It's nice.
• 11:50
  It's really, really cool to see this many people here at Sao Paulo and to see the racing today.
• 11:55
  So thank you, guys.
• 11:58
  Now, some of you will probably say, well, why didn't you sit down with him on your own and do a separate chat to the broadcast?
• 12:04
  I probably could have done that, but my schedule was crazy on the TV side.
• 12:07
  And I actually wanted to let Liam enjoy the moment with the fans at home rather than taking him...
• 12:13
  away from too much of that with media stuff.
• 12:16
  We hope that he has a great season.
• 12:18
  We will be at Albert Park before you know it too.
• 12:20
  The season opener is only two months away.
• 12:23
  Incidentally, if you are starved of motorsport during the break, Dakar's on.
• 12:28
  Daniel Sanders doing some epic things there on two wheels.
• 12:31
  Channel 7 and my colleagues Chad Nalon and Matt Nolte have been bringing the Night Thunder sprint car coverage out of the Perth Motorplex, and it is a very good production.
• 12:40
  That's fantastic for Speedway.
• 12:42
  You can also enjoy the NextGen NZ Championship, their traditional summer series, which includes the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship.
• 12:51
  As I said at the top of the pod today, Will Brown doing three of five rounds.
• 12:57
  Really cool to have him a part of it.
• 12:58
  Just go to stuff.com.
• 13:00
  stuff.co.nz forward slash speedhub or one word there.
• 13:05
  Richard Crail is with us for a few events on the tour.
• 13:07
  That is a quality coverage too that anyone around the world can enjoy.
• 13:12
  Very easy to watch stuff.co.nz forward slash speedhub.
• 13:18
  We're hoping to get Roberto Moreno on while he's in town for a feature episode.
• 13:22
  Keep an eye out for that.
• 13:23
  I know you are keen for feature length content over the break.
• 13:27
  We are
• 13:27
  firing back up after a little and much needed recharge.
• 13:31
  That is it though for this edition of The Shortcast.
• 13:34
  Hope you have a great week everyone.
• 13:36
  Bye for now.