Verstappen and Lawson Take Grid Penalties After 'Clumsy' Mexico Clash
Seven Lights
Formula 1 stewards imposed one-place grid penalties and one penalty point each on Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson after the Red Bull teammates collided during Friday’s second practice session for the Mexico City Grand Prix, an incident the stewards called “unacceptable.”
The two cars made contact while running side by side in the stadium section. The stewards’ document said Verstappen was on a preparation lap and Lawson on a cool-down lap when Verstappen tried to overtake up the inside at Turn 12; Lawson held his ground, the pair went side by side through Turn 13, and contact followed at Turn 14, with debris falling from Verstappen’s car and bringing out a red flag. The Red Bull suffered floor damage and the Racing Bulls car front-wing damage. Neither driver had run in the first session, their cars having been handed to young drivers Ayumu Iwasa and Nikola Tsolov under Formula 1’s mandatory rookie program.
The stewards said both drivers “behaved in a manner that was considered unacceptable,” particularly in view of a warning given at the Team Managers meeting earlier on Friday about overtaking in the final sector, and recorded that both admitted the moves were “unnecessary and clumsy.”
Verstappen criticised Lawson for “not very smart behaviour.” Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane said both drivers were at fault for a collision that was “completely unnecessary.” “I think one word, just ‘unnecessary’ in a practice session,” Permane said. “I say that to both of them.”
The clash sharpens questions over next year’s line-ups. Lawson is one of three drivers competing for two seats at Racing Bulls, Red Bull’s junior team, alongside current teammate Arvid Lindblad and the Bulgarian Formula 2 front-runner Nikola Tsolov, who drove for Racing Bulls in first practice on Friday and is second in that championship. Team officials said no decision had been made.
The penalties reorder the grid for Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli is poised to clinch his first world title on Sunday; only a victory by his teammate George Russell or by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton can theoretically prevent it. Charles Leclerc headed both Friday sessions, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, with Antonelli fourth fastest.