Liam Lawson, a huge fan of Disney/Pixar’s Cars movie franchise, recently participated in a fun conversation where he compared Formula 1 drivers to characters from the beloved animated series. In a candid discussion with Red Bull Racing’s official content creator Pondem, Lawson matched Fernando Alonso to the character of Chick Hicks, one of the antagonists from the Cars series.
The comparison led to some humorous remarks from Lawson and Pondem about Alonso’s driving style. While discussing the character of Chick Hicks, Pondem pointed out that Alonso, like Hicks, is known for his aggressive defensive driving.
“I was thinking Fernando Alonso but not like from a bad standpoint but from the, like, defending on the edge, you know”, said Pondem to which Lawson remarked, “He’s not arrogant enough.”
But then Pondem noted how they both sport a similar green color, saying, “He’s green though.” Lawson then added before moving on to the next character, “This is a tricky one because it’s really insulting, but we can go with Fernando.”
In Cars (2006), Chick Hicks causes fellow racer Strip ‘The King’ Weathers to suffer a severe crash at the tiebreaker race in Los Angeles. While Hicks is reprimanded by the audience, he otherwise suffers no severe consequences, and is allowed to keep his Piston Cup trophy. pic.twitter.com/N3OxaVsCpd
— Wild Shit in Disney•Pixar’s Cars (@CarsLorekeeper) August 16, 2022
Chick Hicks, also known as “Thunder,” is the main antagonist of the 2006 film and he’s portrayed as a racer who doesn’t shy away from cheating to win and is arrogant and rude, even to his own team. His career eventually falls apart when he causes a crash involving iconic racer The King and his fans turn on him, leaving him disgraced.
Lawson and Alonso clashed at the US Grand Prix
While Alonso’s comparison to Chick Hicks was made in a candid and fun way, it comes on the back of some real-life tension between the Aston Martin driver and Lawson. The two drivers clashed during the US Grand Prix weekend, both in the Sprint Race and in qualifying.
In the Sprint Race, Alonso and Lawson came close to crashing when the New Zealander aggressively blocked the two-time champion on the back straight and both drivers ended up losing positions to Esteban Ocon after the exchange. Alonso wasn’t pleased, voicing his frustration over the team radio, “Man, the AlphaTauri [driver] is such an idiot.”
Fernando #Alonso and Liam #Lawson didn’t see eye to eye after their tense #F1Sprint battle pic.twitter.com/GeBliWquPD
— Motorsport Week (@MotorsportWeek) October 20, 2024
The clash, however, continued into qualifying, where Alonso reportedly made good on a promise to “screw” Lawson after their on-track battle. “He said he would screw me, and I guess he kept his word,” Lawson told the media after the session, as quoted by Planet F1.
Lawson seemed surprised by Alonso’s level of frustration after their encounters as he couldn’t quite understand why the Spaniard was so upset, especially since they were competing for 16th place. However, he was hopeful that Alonso would eventually move past the incident.
