Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Liam Lawson has what it takes to be a F1 star

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

What about Liam Lawson? A kid from Pukekohe from potato country, has just been given a Formula One seat for the rest of the season. What an absolutely amazing achievement that is. There are only 20 seats available each season in F1. 20 seats.

And the absolute best drivers around the world compete for those twenty seats.

And a 22-year-old kid from New Zealand, population just slightly over 5 million, that's just a big city somewhere, just took one of those twenty seats. I mean, talk about overachieving. Well done him.

How proud do you think his parents are right now? How much are they not regretting that move to Pukekohe so he could be near the racetrack? It's paid off, hasn't it?

I was listening to Liam talk to Mike this morning and the thing that struck me about him is how mature he is.

I mean, for a kid of 22 years old, he is unbelievably cool, calm and collected, and I reckon even more so than people, sometimes twice his age.

I mean, this kid knows what's on the line. He knows this is his one shot, he understands he's got about 6 races to prove himself if he wants to keep the seat next year.

And he just sounds like he's taking this whole thing in his stride completely.

The impression that I got from him this morning is even if he wasn't one of the best F1 drivers in the world right now, and you just met him somewhere in New Zealand on some random occasion, it would be hard not to be impressed with his composure for his age.

He's going to need that composure. Since the announcement that Daniel Ricciardo's been rolled and Liam Lawson's taking over, he is copping it online from fans who are upset with the whole way that Riccardo's been treated.

And who are they blaming wrongly? Obviously, Liam Lawson.

And you know how social media is nowadays? It's not something out there that's just in the nether nether. It's in your phone, in your pocket, and you can read it if you want to.

So I imagine he's going to have to draw on that mental fortitude to be able to cope with the pressure that he will now be under from people out there who've got opinions.

But somehow, having listened to him talk this morning, I think he's going to be absolutely fine, don't you?

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