Lawson unfazed: "My racing approach won’t change" after Mexico GP incident with Perez
Lawson reflects on Mexico GP incident, maintains no change in approach.
SAO PAULO, Brazil – RB driver Liam Lawson has expressed that he has learned valuable lessons from his collision with Red Bull's Sergio Perez during the Mexico Grand Prix. Despite the incident, Lawson insists that his overall approach to racing will remain unchanged.
The collision occurred at Turn 5 as Lawson and Perez were battling for position. After the incident, Lawson was seen gesturing with his middle finger at Perez when he later passed him. Perez, who had strong opinions post-race, criticized Lawson’s demeanor, stating the New Zealander had the wrong "attitude" for F1 and accused him of being "out of control."
Lawson, who stepped in for Daniel Ricciardo at RB two races ago, recounted his discussions with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and motorsport advisor Helmut Marko following the Mexico Grand Prix.
"I don't think they want me to race differently," Lawson remarked. "But obviously the target is not to make contact with another Red Bull car. And as I said at the time, it wasn't my intention in the moment. Looking back, maybe I could have avoided it. And clearly, that would have been the right thing to do at the time."
When questioned about whether his aggression in racing would change, Lawson was resolute: "That won't change, yeah. That attitude towards racing and how I approach races in Formula 1 won't change."
Lawson emphasized the importance of learning from mistakes. "That's how I'll always be, but at the same time there's things in there if I make mistakes I'll always learn from them. And clearly in Mexico I made a mistake and I'll learn from it."
The incident happened as Perez was attempting to overtake Lawson, leading to both drivers running deep into Turn 4, with Lawson eventually rejoining ahead of Turn 5 where the collision occurred. Lawson admitted that he could have taken measures to avoid the contact.
"Looking back, maybe there were things I could have done differently, I could have cut the chicane and avoided it completely," he reflected. "But in the moment I'm racing as well, you have a split second to make this decision. So it's something I've spoken to the team about afterwards and I've reflected on and I'll learn from going into this weekend."
Lawson also addressed his actions post-collision, stating he spoke briefly with Perez and apologized for his gesture.
"Briefly we spoke after the race but at the same time we left the track very early immediately afterwards anyway. So I think it was an on-track fight and I apologised for what I did after the incident. But in terms of the fight we had on track, it was deemed as a racing incident and something that was an in-the-moment battle."
As Formula 1 moves to the next race in São Paulo, all eyes will be on Lawson to see if he integrates the lessons learned while maintaining his competitive edge.
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