Lawson makes ‘enemies’ claim after Perez clash

Liam Lawson insists he is in F1 to win, not make friends, after clashing with Sergio Perez during the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The New Zealander has also shown his reflective side, as he moved to mollify the tension between the two drivers, conceding that he will “learn from mistakes” and take on advice given to him.

Early in the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the 22-year-old was attempting to defend track position to Perez, who was working his way through the field after a poor qualifying display.

Having moved under braking through Turn 4, Lawson then appeared to push the Red Bull wide into the following corner. The two cars made contact, with Perez sustaining considerable damage to his RB20.

The Mexican driver later retaliated by seemingly holding up the RB, prompting Lawson to stick his middle finger up at him as he passed on the main straight.

Perez had some choice words for Lawson after the race. The latter confirmed he had apologised for swearing at the 34-year-old.

Ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix, Lawson addressed the issue but remained resolute in his racing convictions.

“I race the way I race, and that’s how I’ve always been,” Lawson told media including RacingNews365.

“I’ll learn from mistakes that I made. I’ll take advice from everybody I can and my target is not to drive and go out and make enemies of anybody – that’s not the goal, obviously.

“But at the same time, I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to win.”

Perez clash was ‘a racing incident’

When Perez was directly brought up to him, Lawson detailed a brief conversation between the two Red Bull drivers.

The stewards looks at their initial clash during the race, but did not feel it warranted further investigation.

“Yeah, briefly we spoke after the race, but at the same time, we left the track very early, immediately afterwards,” Lawson confirmed.

“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.

“Some people might look at it like it was way too aggressive, and other people might not.

“I’m gonna drive how I’m gonna drive and do the best job I can. We all obviously make mistakes and there’s stuff I reflect on, but I’m also a racer and that’s what I was trying to do.”

In the aftermath, it is an incident that has taken on greater significance that it usually would.

Whilst already contentious given both drive for the same owner, the fight for the second Red Bull seat – alongside Max Verstappen – has added a new dimension to the skirmish.

“The target is not to crash into any car, but especially a Red Bull car. And it wasn’t my target in the moment of the incident, either. I was trying to avoid that,” Lawson added.

“Looking back, maybe there’s things I could have done differently. I could have cut the chicane and avoided it completely, but in the moment I’m racing and you have a split second to make these decisions.

“It’s something I’ve spoken to the team about afterwards and I’ve reflected on and I’ll learn from.”