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Red Bull Racing

Top 5 sports items this week 24/4/25: Rodney Childers’ shock departure at Spire, Scott Parker’s links with Tottenham after PL promotion with Burnley, Super Rugby Round 11/16, Max Verstappen and Western Bears in NRL

by Sports Benches April 24, 2025

Bummer Rodney Childers won’t be back in the No.7 pit box but Spire ain’t backing down nonetheless with all three cars in & out of Top 16 to 20 drivers’ points.

There’s always time with the win and Playoffs still a possibility as long as it’s before September where Spire has the full backing of three talented and experienced drivers in McDowell, Haley and Hocevar.

Parker back to Tottenham?

While Burnley now back to the PL, Scott Parker might not be there because of Tottenham who could get rid of Aussie Ange even if he wins the Europa final.

Maybe it’s best if Scott helps Burnley win it all and see Leeds bottle it at the same time, then he can go considering he hasn’t been successful so far at this top level.

There’s even talk about Leeds wanting to sack Farke in order to avoid his curse record at PL level – looks like it will be advantage Parker for the title then.

Super Rugby: another golden week from the Aussie sides v NZ?

Super Rugby back for another week going the Australian teams away we hope after a few brilliant games including one that ended in a draw, although not so much for the Waratahs unfortunately v Fijian Drua away in Suva.

Yet, things could get even better if Reds, Brumbies and Force all beat their respective NZ teams in Blues, Hurricanes and Chiefs this weekend.

Perfect timing (mark that down) and as of Week 11 out of 16, still no NZ side win recorded yet at least on Australian soil.

Max Verstappen wants out of Red Bull?

Also, Max frustrated behind the scenes being the cut lone figure at Red Bull when McLaren in a Mercedes customer engine are leading the way via Oscar and Lando.

Would love to see him end up at Aston Martin with Honda engines + Adrian Newey again & Franco C. be the ideal one when RB have no other choice post-Max.

NRL finally has a Perth team with assistance of the North Sydney Bears

And last but not least, Perth will finally get a NRL team in a long time with credit to the North Sydney Bears.

That means, the Bears will be expected to play top-level Rugby League once again but looks like half of the games will be played at in Perth with other still going to be at the spiritual North Sydney Oval.

National footprint is important for all of our Aussie sports including rugby despite losing a team in Melbourne but gotta accept it’s the best fight right now in the bid for championships and series trophies.

The big weekend other than the off-weekend of F1 starts tomorrow on ANZAC day Friday before the second last round’s matches is on a bright Saturday night at 9pm and we round it off with the shuffling decks of Talladega come Monday AM.

April 24, 2025 0 comment

Motorsport

Thoughts on Red Bull looking to replace Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda and what does it mean for Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan?

by Sports Benches March 24, 2025

Over the last 12 to 24 hours, there was a huge twist coming from Red Bull Racing about them looking to replace Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda ahead of the Japanese round just after two races into the new season.

Yes, Max Verstappen is still leading the pack and currently 4 x world drivers’ champ but at the same time, he needs someone who can push this team to the metal – and seems Liam Lawson isn’t that man up for the task unfortunately.

I get it because he’s a New Zealander as someone who personally enjoyed the best of NZ sport too.

You can also tell he made a good impression first and foremost but again, his best finishes were only 9th like three times – nothing more when RB’s goal is to battle for regular wins, podiums & Top 7s.

Plus, he doesn’t really have the sponsors to bring himself in to the table having only made 13 Formula 1 races to his name.

While everyone can’t be a Ollie Bearman or an Andrea Kimi Antonelli, it seems Red Bull may have regret snubbing Franco Colapinto as they are now reconsidering him for their sister team at Racing Bulls – should Yuki replace Lawson immediately.

Again, he’s fast and may have crashed at times but he is also the guy who can bring a bit of everything that Liam wasn’t able to do in between both Red Bull squads.

Sure Flavio would want to think about this so he can at least get his money back and have someone like Franco drive a slightly better car with a decent enough engine than the one he is currently waiting on right in front of Jack Doohan right now which has a bang average Renault engine.

Franco going to Racing Bulls would take the pressure off Doohan no doubt who continues to match Gasly with raw pace in practice and qualifying, although he needs to be a bit more careful so he can keep his cards to his chest in the hope of staying at Alpine for a long times. Plus, Pierre loves having him by his side as also hoping this partnership doesn’t end that quick all because of Flavio’s admiration of Franco.

So all in all, Red Bull should pay Alpine & also Williams whatever it takes to give Franco a chance in Yuki’s spot at Racing Bulls alongside fellow rookie Isack Hadjar, who also seems to show some good potential so far following his step up from F2.

F1 will always a cut-throat sport as Liam had his chance but sure he will end up at either Cadillac, Haas-Ferrari or even Audi at some point when going back to Racing Bulls for the third time may not make much sense for someone who’s already been there with some success unlike Yuki.

Also, instead of trolling Jack all day long to make Franco look good, let’s give him a chance still when the team isn’t even up front right now as he will get there to where he wants to be with time.

March 24, 2025 0 comment

Motorsport

Formula 1, an unexpected early mechanical DNF from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen paves a Ferrari 1-2 finish with Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr. now a first time winner at Albert Park

by Sports Benches March 24, 2024

We didn’t see that coming but we now have a new Australian Grand Prix winner for 2024 and his name is Carlos Sainz Jr who drives for Scuderia Ferrari off the back of these unexpected early retirements from reigning champion and last year’s winner Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda RBPT) as well as Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes whose team-mate George Russell also suffered a late race crash). He too had a great race for the majority unchallenged with team-mate Charles Leclerc rounding off a 1-2 Ferrari finish since the 2022 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Looks like it will be Ferrari v Red Bull for the championship now with Sainz Jr (-11 points) and Leclerc (-4 points) not far behind Verstappen (currently on 51 with back-to-back wins) in the drivers’ standings. Plus, fellow Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has still yet to win this year despite back-to-back 2nd places in the hope of going one better that would help him keep his ride for another couple of years after he just finished 5th (-5 points).

For the Aussies, We also hoped to at least see one on the podium but Oscar Piastri didn’t do bad though just outside the Top 3 places in 4th behind his McLaren-Mercedes team-mate Lando Norris, while Daniel Ricciardo finished not far from the Top 10 in 12th despite being a lap down for Visa CashApp RB-Honda RBPT since he was in a midfield race machine.

Also, shoutout to the two Haas-Ferrari cars just rounding off the Top 10 points in Nico Hulkenberg (9th) and Kevin Magnussen (10th). So does Ricciardo’s team-mate Yuki Tusnoda from Japan after he collected a few points in 8th just behind the Aston Martin duo of Lance Stroll (7th) & Fernando Alonso (6th). And although things are still going slow at the moment over at Jack Doohan’s Alpine-Renault squad with Esteban Ocon finishing last on track (16th), but Pierre Gasly did benefit from these early race retirements on what has been an okay 13th placed finish. It remains to be seen if Alpine’s form will turn things around sooner rather than later as a mid-season driver change remains unlikely for now but Doohan hopes his time will come most likely next year depending on the team’s commitment to the sport & if Ocon and/or Gasly leaves for a better race team like Mercedes and Red Bull. F1 will now go from Albert Park in Melbourne to Suzuka in Japan who will now host early rather than later during the season as the next race (Round 4 of 22) will take place after Easter on the weekend of Sunday 7th April 2024.

If you wish to follow all other races after watching this annual Australian race since it’s free-to-air protected, Fox Sports/Kayo will be the only place here to watch live & on-demand with next day race highlights available for free thanks to Kayo Freebies.

March 24, 2024 0 comment