It might be Checo's home race... But Liam Lawson wasn't about to give up P10 without getting his elbows out! 👀 #F1 #MexicoGP
Lawson Apologizes And Explains Why He Showed Middle Finger To Perez During Grand Prix
F1Monday, 28 October 2024 at 11:32
Liam Lawson explained why he showed a middle finger to Sergio Perez as he was overtaking the Mexican driver during his home Grand Prix last weekend.
The 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix was not a good weekend for Sergio Perez. First, he got knocked out of qualifying in Q1, then he received a five-second penalty for a false start, and then he collided with Liam Lawson on lap 18, damaging his car.
The Red Bull Racing F1 driver sent a dive down the inside on the VCARB driver into turn number 4 but left him no space on the exit. Lawson didn't back out and tried to get back on the track next to Perez going into turn five, and the result was a collision.
Speaking to Viaplay after the 20th round of the season at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Liam Lawson shared his point of view on the incident.
"I gave him space in Turn 4, He was coming in super far back and super late, so I knew he would try a lunge."
"I gave him space, he drove me off the track. And then into Turn 5, I'm trying to turn as much as I can, but he's again, turned in and not given me space."
"It wasn't my intention to, obviously have an incident, but I did try and leave space in Turn 4. I would have thought he would leave me space in Turn 5, but obviously not."
Perez suffered damage to his sidepod and floor, which ultimately meant that the home hero had no chance of even competing for the top ten.
Later in the Grand Prix, the two drivers met again as Lawson pitted and had to overtake Perez. The New Zealander caught up with the 34-year-old in the middle sector of the track, where it was almost impossible to overtake.
Lawson felt Perez took advantage of that and just tried to slow him down to ruin his race as well. Perez's lap time went down by two seconds on the occasion when the 22-year-old said he was being blocked on purpose.
On lap 40, Perez's time was 1:23.586; on the following lap, when Lawson caught up with him in the middle sector, his lap time was 1:25.538. After Perez was overtaken, his lap times went down again - 1:24.347 (lap 42) and 1:23.677 (lap 43).
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Feeling that Perez blocked him on purpose, Lawson showed him middle finger as he was overtaking him on the final straight on lap 41. He later said:
"I was obviously in the moment upset, he blocked me for half-a-lap to obviously try and ruin my race."
"But honestly, I shouldn't have done it, and I apologize because it's not something we should do. It was in the moment, but it's not an excuse."
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