Sergio Perez was unimpressed with Liam Lawson’s driving when the pair crossed swords during the Mexican Grand Prix.
The stewards had no complaints, however, but they did get involved in another incident Lawson was involved with. They handed Franco Colapinto a 10-second post-race penalty for his tangle with the RB driver.
Lawson and Perez’s tangle over 10th place began when the Red Bull driver lunged to the inside of his rival at turn four on lap 18. Perez made the corner but ran Lawson wide at the exit.
Rather than take to the grass, Lawson stuck to the inside of Perez into the following right-hander and the two touched at the apex while side-by-side, resulting in sidepod damage on the right side of the Red Bull.
The stewards chose not to take any action against either driver for the incident, later explaining that Perez’s move into turn four had been “late” and that Lawson had to go off track to avoid a collision. They determined that it was a “racing incident”, but Perez felt Lawson had been too aggressive in his defence.
“I think we ruined both [our] races,” Perez said. “I was ahead, there was no need to come together at that point. It was lap 11 [18] of the race, [it was] just compromising our race, both of us. I don’t think it was a very clever move.”
Lawson says he spoke with Perez – who had branded him an “idiot” on multiple team radio messages during the race – after the chequered flag to discuss the clash.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“He was obviously upset,” Lawson said. “I don’t know where he wanted me to go.
“I gave him space in [turn] four, he came in super-late. At that point of the race, we’d just got some clean air and honestly our pace wasn’t bad. So I’m not just going to get out of his way. I gave him space in four, he drove me off, and then he didn’t give me space in five. I was on the lock-stop trying to turn the corner and avoid a collision. But I had nowhere to go. So it’s frustrating. It wasn’t my intention.”
Later in the race Lawson tangled with Colapinto while battling over 12th place. The pair made contact at turn two after when Colapinto attempted to pass Lawson around the outside of the first corner.
The pair ran side-by-side through turn one, with the front axles of their cars virtually level. Colapinto ran wide and outside of the white lines at the exit of turn one, which put him to the inside of Lawson into turn two. As they attempted…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…