I love Lawrence, but his first grid walk was rough man. They only have a few minutes to walk the entire grid and this dude casually pulls someone in for a soundbite, which ends up taking all his time. Then he starts to hurry, but also pulls a team lead for an interview, which also took way longer. I was getting anxious for him and then he just gave up halfway because he was out of time.

Hopefully they’ll give him a second chance and maybe prepare him a bit better. If you want to include other people, just get a soundbite, don’t start a whole ass interview. And you don’t have to pose when the cameraman gets a shot of the car, just do your prepared lines and move on.

Walking and talking is also a skill, he sounded like he was out of breath the whole time. We saw he has a good condition, so it’s probably just a question of practice.

Aside: The whole squash thing was pretty weird, Sainz just didn’t say anything the whole time? Maybe it was the editing, but it was weird.

they said he’ll be back in a few weeks - i think he’s on paternity leave? could just be a sabbatical but they mentioned it during the opening show they do at the start of the weekend. (which is on yt)

Laura mentioned he is on paternity leave. Might be away for a race or two