Sergio Perez was unhappy with Liam Lawson’s tactics in F1 Mexico GP, as the Kiwi apologised for showing middle finger, while Christian Horner adds on.
It was a solid start from Red Bull’s Perez in F1 Mexico GP to be up to 13th under the safety car. But he was pinged for a false start where he positioned himself outside of the box. He was handed a 5s time penalty, but still managed to claw up to the Top 10 positions.
But the grand prix took a turn then when he came against Visa Cash App RB’s Lawson. The Mexican went for a move at Turn 4, but the Kiwi cutback and came back at him at Turn 5 where they made small contact with Perez off the road. Despite his push again, he couldn’t make it through.
Replays showed a small hole on his sidepod as he came under pressure from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, with whom he had battle too. Perez and Lawson were let off for their incidents, but the Mexican was not done. Post the Kiwi’s stop, he found himself behind the Mexican.
While it was not shown on the world feed, it seemed like Perez held him up a bit and when Lawson made the move on him, he showed a middle finger to the Mexican. The Red Bull driver was not happy with the attitude of the Kiwi, who is in contention to replace him if all goes well.
Perez recalled the clash with Fernando Alonso in Austin and also his clash with himself and Williams’ Franco Colapinto in Mexico. The Mexican praised his talent but relayed about getting his attitude sorted. Lawson accepted his mistake of showing a middle finger to the Mexican and apologised for it.
In his incident with Colapinto, strangely the Argentine was handed a 10s time penalty, where both felt it to be a racing incident. Red Bull chief Horner, meanwhile, was not too happy with Perez’s outing overall. When pushed to answer about his future, the Brit did hint that strict measures could be taken.
What happened –
Perez: “It was looking good, I was already up to P10, I had the manoeuvre into Turn 4 and then he was outside the track and just came straight like if there was no car. I think he could have avoided the incident but he just went back. Luckily I saw him and I opened the room otherwise it would have been a massive crash. There was no need. We damaged both of our races. It was a little bit too much. I don’t think he’s at fault, he’s not getting any penalties as well. He did the same with Fernando, with Franco in the end. There are no penalties, so none of this is his fault as well.”
Lawson: “With the speed we had, it is frustrating to not score points, it was obviously the goal, I had a fast race car, I just spent the whole race behind. The strategy was probably the hardest part of that race, I think. We just couldn’t get the clean air to utilize it. Once those fast cars got us early on, we were just stuck in traffic and it was a frustrating race. It’s unfortunate, obviously the incidents are unnecessary as well and frustrating. The incident with Checo, I left him space into (Turn) 4 and was coming in very, very late. Honestly, I tried to give him space. He drove me off the track, and then he didn’t give me space since Turn 5. So, it’s unfortunate, it wasn’t my intention, but I don’t know where he wants me to go. It’s obviously one of those in the moment things [showing middle finger].
“He spent half the lap blocking me, trying to ruin my race, so I was upset. But it’s not an excuse. I shouldn’t have done it, and I apologise for that. I don’t think that’s what Helmut likes. It’s not my character, not something you should be doing. As for Franco, I tried to give him space in Turn 1 and then I gave him plenty of space in Turn 2, but he obviously carried a lot of speed in. At that point when I saw the speed he was carrying, I tried to brake and get out of it, but I ran out of space and it was just a clumsy incident. I don’t really put it on him, I don’t think it was really his fault, it was just an unnecessary incident. I was trying to make the corner, I was hard on turn right, trying to make the corner but I obviously squeezed him through Turn 1 but I gave him space in Turn 2.”
Colapinto: “He braked quite late and he was wide into Turn 1, he pushed me off and tried to do a cutback into Turn 2, and he hit my rear right.”
Stroll: “I don’t really care. It was racing, I was on the outside, he pushed me wide, whatever. I have no strong opinion racing wheel-to-wheel. I don’t think so I had damage, just went on the grass.”
Horber: “Well, first of all, I think it demonstrates that you can see that the two teams do race each other. And whilst having the same ownership are independent as to the way that they go racing. Liam has obviously apologised, I think, to Checo for the incident. And obviously there’ll be lessons that come out of that. But frustrating certainly for Checo’s race to pick up the damage and lose valuable points today.”
Attitude issues –
Perez: “I don’t have any relationship with him. I think the way he has come to Formula 1, I don’t think he has the right attitude for it. He needs to be a bit more humble. When a two-time world champion was saying things last weekend, he completely ignored him. It’s like when you come to Formula 1, you’re obviously very hungry and so on, but you have to be respectful as well, off track and on track. I don’t think he’s showing the right attitude. I think he’s a great driver and I hope for him that he can step back and learn from it. In his first two grands prix he has had many incidents. I think there will be a point where it can cost him too much, like it did this weekend.
“I just think that he has to have the right attitude to say: ‘Look, probably I’m overdoing it a little bit, I will step back and start again’, because if you don’t learn from your mistakes, Formula 1 is a brutal world and he might not continue. He nearly crashed with Fernando last weekend, he nearly crashed with Franco. I think he’s just racing everyone out of control at the moment. That is none of business [about Christian talking to him], but in Mexico, it cost Red Bull Racing a lot of points, so I think they should speak to him in that regard.”
Start issue, damage after hit –
Perez: “I was out of position, I haven’t seen the replay but I trust the FIA on that one. I couldn’t see the line, we have this issue with big cars, big tyres, sometimes you are not able to see properly. And I lost a lot of time [after contact with Liam], I think it was 2s or something down, yeah, completely off.”
Horber: “Unfortunately, he started out of box position, so he picked up a penalty for that. His first lap was strong. His start was strong. And then the damage that he picked up with Liam, he picked up about 70 points with the load, with a hole in the sidepod and half the side of the floor missing. At that point you’re effectively wounded, and scoring points was never going to be on the cards. He just positioned the car outside of the box, he just made a mistake.”
Future –
Horner: “I mean Checo again has had a horrible weekend, and nothing’s gone right for him this weekend. He knows F1 is a results-based business, and inevitably, when you’re not delivering, then the spotlight is firmly on you. As I say, F1 is a results-based business, and when anyone is underperforming, of course, there is always going to become scrutiny on that. And as a team, we need to have both cars scoring points, and that’s the nature of F1. It’s [scrutiny] constant, it’s always there. So from a team’s perspective, we’re working with him as hard as we can, to try and support him.
“I think we’ve done everything that we can to support Checo, and we’ll continue to do so in Brazil next weekend. But there comes a point in time that you can only do so much. Look, as I just said, that scrutiny is always going to be there. And there comes a point in time that difficult decisions have to be made. We’re now third in the constructors’ championship. Our determination is to try and get back into a winning position, but it’s going to be a tall order over these next four races.”
Here’s note on false start: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Mexico%20City%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Infringement%20-%20Car%2011%20-%20False%20Start.pdf
Here’s Perez and Lawson note: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Mexico%20City%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Decision%20-%20Car%2011%20-%20Alleged%20leaving%20the%20track%20and%20forcing%20a%20driver%20off%20the%20track.pdf
Here’s Perez and Stroll note: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Mexico%20City%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Decision%20-%20Car%2011%20-%20Alleged%20forcing%20another%20driver%20off%20the%20track.pdf
Here’s Colapinto and Lawson note: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Mexico%20City%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Infringement%20-%20Car%2043%20-%20Causing%20a%20collision.pdf
Here’s McLaren, Red Bull relaying the Mexico GP fight
Here’s how F1 Mexico GP panned out
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact