Andrew Saville: Sports Reporter on Liam Lawson's Red Bull success, favourite sporting moments of the year

Published Dec 20, 2024, 9:59 PM

Liam Lawson is coping some negative feedback after being picked by Red Bull, but Andrew Saville thinks most of that noise is from overseas fans.

It has been a fantastic year for New Zealand support, Saville discusses his favourite highlights.

Auckland FC ranks in his list, the Olympics being our best ever medal haul, and team New Zealand winning the America’s Cup Again.

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Thank you for your text, Hi, FRANCISCA, huge congrads to Liam Lawson and his family. No one can understand the pressure the knock can understand the pressure the knockers not to mention the financial commitment while you're trying to make the great and motor racing. As a parent or as a competitor, trust me, we fully relate to this. So huge, huge congratulations to the Lawson family and the McLoughlin's and Scott's parents and everybody involved. Thank you very much for your text and joining us now to talk sport is Andrew Saville.

Good morning, Francesca. Merry Christmas to you and to you too.

I was just saying, you know, it's amazing. It takes quick announcements made about Liam Lawson and all, and the haters come out, and the knock has come out and all the kind of things. I'm just going to stop for a minute, regardless of what you think of him as a driver, regardless of what you think of the team. Actually, this is huge.

It is it is. I think I've got to imagine I'd imagine that a very very high percentage of those knockers or haters, if they can use that term, would be from overseas, it would be Sergio Perez fans, maybe Red Bull fans. There's no doubt about it though, that Liam Lawson has got to where he's got because he's talented, he's hard working, and red Ball for a long time, five or six years, have clearly seen something in him that they love, not necessarily driving, only driving on the track, but the feedback, the engineering feedback he gives to teams. He was their test driver, he's been the assimulating driver for a number of years as well, and that all adds in to the fact that he's now elevated to the best team, even though they didn't win the constructors title this year because of a staffan as the world champion, I think it's what one of the best teams, if not the best team they have been for several years. So it's quite amazing, really quite remarkable for New Zealand Sport and New Zealand to have a young kiw in a position like that for the first time since Denny Hulm and Bruce McLaren in the sixties, A long, long, long time ago, Chris Aymon in the seventies. It's a remarkable achievement and I don't think you can You can try and put it into context around other sport, but it's an infinitesimal percentage amount that a young New Zealand kid gets to drive an F one let alone one of the greatest teams in the history of Formula One. So I think Liam and his family, his family has worked bloody hard over the years, and his private backers in New Zealand that have backed them all the way from when he was a young kid. Because he has been getting basically no money to drive. He's had to have private sponsors look after from the last several years to survive in Europe and his living and what have you. That will now change when whether he's on the massive millions that the staff and the Hamilton mat make, I don't think at this point is or will be.

He's got time, Andrew, He's got time.

That's right. I mean, he's only twenty two and if he performs next year and year after the year, that that's when the big, big, big money will come for Liam Lawson.

Yeah, I don't know if you heard me earlier, I was saying that. I had the pleasure of talking to Marcus Armstrong this year and I said to him, why do you why do we have so many keywis at the top of sort of Indy car or you know, and now in Formula one and things. And he just said to me, he said, it's because we make such a huge sacrifice to follow our dream. You know, our families make a sur price. We make that price. You can't. You've just got to be in it. You have to succeed. I thought that was a really interesting comment to make you know that nothing's been handed to these guys. They have, as you say, everything over the years.

Liam's family has put everything on the line and now the rewards will come. Carting in New Zealand is strong, and then the kids that perform and that go through you know, but again there's been hundreds of kids that go through carding and then to Europe and never and never reached that that top goal of Formula one. It is extremely hard to get a seat like Liam Lawson has got Red Bulls, not doing it out of charity or the goodness of their heart. Is very very cutthroat. You have to be skilled, you have to be hard working and you have to have a lot of support around you and that's what Liam Lawson's had for many, many years.

What are some of your other sporting highlights of the Andrew, what have you enjoyed?

Gee whiz, there's been so many and looking through the Hallberg finalists that came out the other day, it's been it's been a fantastic year. And the Zealand sport. You had the Olympics of course, best ever Metal Hall, Lisa Carrington, Elise Andrews, Lydia Colem, a Twig and a Grimaldi in the Power Games, Finn Butcher, Hamish Kerr, Hayden, Wild Blackfood and seven a rowing team as well. Outside of that, Emma Ratler, who's the world number one doubles player, Chris Wood starring in the Premier League a little like Liam Lawson, you know, it's a very very small percentage of footballers from around the world to get to play in the APL, let alone be a star in the Premier League in England, and Chris Wood's one of those. Team New Zealand winning the America's Cup again. White Ferns, don't forget the White World Cup champs completely out of the blue that was one of the other major sporting highlights. So all round, I think it's been it's been a fantastic year. And then if we look to twenty twenty five, starting with the first Grand Prix March, all eyes are going to be on Liam Lawson. Then there's a lot of other sport during the year which we will focus our attention.

And it's been great to see Auckland FC take off as strong.

Today in Auckland Western United, which is a team from just out of Melbourne. Mate, I think they tick off about five o'clock and yeah, they've They've done some fantastic things will we So looking forward to the summer ahead, You've got the tennis willing to Phoenix aalk, the f C sale GP in Auckland and mid jan a lot of a lot of things to look forward to other summer the next year. But I think a lot of New Zealanders will now become instant if one fans they haven't already.

Francesca absolutely absolutely, yeah, why not when you've got you know, you've got you know, you've got a key to survive.

Yes, But Netflix crew were following Leam Lawson around last summer back in New Zealand, so I think that might have been a little indication that big things were ahead for them.

Yeah, no, and that it is a brilliant way to introduce people to the sport. I've got a daughter who's pretty obsessed with F one, but you know, we don't. We don't do Drive to Survive anymore because it doesn't give you the real story. She'll tell you the people you need to go to to follow Andrew in order to get the story.

You know.

Oh yeah, no, I'm very much put in my place. Every time I mentioned how much I enjoyed Drive to Slash.

Just sort of oh, really, that's fantastic.

Andrew, have a really great break with the family. Thanks for the contribution to the year. Always wonderful to hear your thoughts on sport. Will you be participating in any sport over the summer?

It's competitive eating, you take it, you take it. I'd probably go for gold on that the next couple of weeks, and then apart from that it'll be in the sun in christ Church or the far North and then back into the sporting year. Looking forward to it.

It sounds divine. Thanks so much, Andrew.

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