Run with the hare and hunt with the hounds

Lawson’s strength and weakness played against him in the weekend.  He’s a racer and that cost him dearly in both the Sprint and Grand Prix races at the 2025 Miami Grand Prix in the US.  His clash on Saturday with Fernando Alonso lost him seventh place and valuable points while his opening lap Turn 1 coming together with Jack Doohan ultimately saw him retire 37-laps later in the Grand Prix on Sunday. 

Would Max Verstappen have done anything different?  I doubt it.  Both are out-and-out racers, but the difference is that one qualifies at the front of the field and the other towards the rear.  For Verstappen it has been about the race to the first corner, never give and inch and deal with the consequences later.  Not too different to Lawson’s mentality. However, at the back of the field there is more traffic and more variables at play. Can the Kiwi afford to keep making these mistakes given such a shaky start to the season?

We are a fickle lot.  It wasn’t that long ago that we became secular and banned prayers from schools (have you noticed there’s no more talk of school lunches), statues were pushed over without understanding why they were there, while no one was held to account and coal was a dirty word!  Now councils are wanting to bring a in spiritual component at the start of their meetings, there is little intolerance for anarchy and realism has been brought back to climate change policy as we need steel and our lights on over the winter.

Then there are our sports teams and individuals.  We fans are hot and cold, running with the hares and hunting with the hounds.  Victory is sweet, failure brings out the daggers and naysayers.

A colleague of mine remarked on the amount of Liam Lawson naysayers on social media and the vitriol on social media.  ‘Take no notice,’ I said and ‘Keep the faith!’

We have a Kiwi Formula One driver, and we need to celebrate this every time he takes to the track.  Have we already forgotten how good Liam Lawson was in his first eleven Grand Prix throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons? Remember, he turned heads!

There are twenty drivers on the F1 grid, and I’d argue that all are worthy of being there because they are currently the best in the world.  It’s not talent alone or even money.  It is the whole package of talent, money, experience, backers, personality type, mental strength and drive and each of these drivers has these qualities, some more than others.  Making it into the F1 arena is quite some achievement. What they are now able to achieve against the best is up to them and how they perform.

Lawson is on the grid for very good reasons and a big one of them of them is that, like Max, he is a racer.  He is now in his F1 apprenticeship, just like the other retirees from the Miami Grand Prix (all rookies as well).

So, ask yourself, are you running with the hares or hunting with the hounds!  Me?  I’m keeping the faith!