Sergio Perez gave a withering verdict of Liam Lawson’s driving following the pair’s clash in the Mexican Grand Prix.
The pair tangled on lap 18 while fighting over 10th place. Perez accused his rival of repeatedly forcing him off-track, though the stewards ruled Lawson defended his place legally.
The moment ended Perez’s chances of recovering a points finish after starting his home race from 18th on the grid. He picked up damage in the incident which slowed his progress over the rest of the afternoon.
The pair crossed paths again later in the race after Lawson made his first pit stop and rejoined behind the Red Bull. This time there was no collision, but Lawson accused Perez of deliberately slowing him down to hold him up.
“Mate he’s blocking me on purpose,” Lawson told his race engineer Pierre Hamelin. Perez’s lap time and telemetry from this point in the race suggest Lawson was right.
Perez couldn’t help but lose time at turn one as he was overtaken by Lance Stroll. But the Aston Martin driver pulled away from him at a surprisingly fast rate.
The Red Bull driver slowed earlier for turn four and Lawson closed in. At the double-right turn six Perez again brought his minimum speed down lower than usual, changing down to second gear instead of his usual third.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Lawson swarmed over him as they accelerated to turn seven, beginning a sequence of corners in which Lawson had no chance to pass. Perez eased off the throttle here more than the previous lap but ensured he had a good run on the straight to turn 12 to out-run Lawson: This was the only point he gained time compared to the lap before.
Through the stadium section Perez again brought his minimum speed down significantly lower than he did on the preceding and succeeding laps. He completed lap 40 in 1’25.538, almost two seconds slower than his previous lap and 1.2s slower than he would be on the next.
Lawson easily passed Perez using DRS as they began lap 41, taking care to guard against a retaliatory lunge up the inside of turn one. Perez soon headed back to the pits for his second pit stop of the day.
The delay proved costly for Lawson. His tyres were 13 laps newer than Stroll’s and the delay behind Perez cost him the chance to get immediately onto the Aston Martin driver’s tail. That meant he missed the chance to pass Stroll…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…