Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson tangled in Friday’s FP2 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and were handed one-place grid drops and a Super Licence point each, with the stewards escalating the usual free-practice warning to a grid penalty after team managers had been warned about this exact scenario earlier the same day. The world feed had Lawson shouting that Verstappen “actually came off the track into the side of me”. It did not have the quieter exchange that led into the contact.

SportBible published the untelevised audio from both garages on Friday. Lawson’s race engineer Alexandre Iliopoulos told him Verstappen was “not pushing, his out lap” as the Red Bull closed in through the stadium section.

Over on Verstappen’s side, race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was more direct.

“So, Lawson and Sainz… let’s try to get track position on Lawson. Let’s go, Max.”

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The two cars met at the exit of the final sector seconds later and the red flag came out while debris was cleared from the kerbs.

‘Not very smart behaviour’

Autosport reported the stewards’ note in full: both drivers “behaved in a manner that was considered unacceptable by the Stewards, particularly in view of the warning that had been given at the Team Managers meeting earlier this day”, and both “admitted the moves were unnecessary and ‘clumsy’”.

Verstappen made his view of Lawson clear in the paddock afterwards.

“When he saw me coming, he suddenly started to accelerate,” he told Sky Sports. “That’s not very sensible behaviour from someone in his position, to pick a fight with me.”

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The four-time world champion then turned to Lawson’s situation at Racing Bulls, where the New Zealander’s 2027 seat has not been confirmed.

“At the end of the day, it is not going to change my weekend. But if I would be him, I would act a little bit smarter. Also, when you are fighting for your seat, it’s not very smart behaviour.”

Lawson’s 2027 seat still open

Lawson is tied to Red Bull’s organisation through Racing Bulls, its second team. Team principal Alan Permane has said the 2027 driver line-up will be chosen “in the coming weeks”, with Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov among the names being weighed alongside Lawson and his current team-mate.

Permane described the FP2 incident in the same “clumsy” terms as the drivers themselves, pointing to the long run from the stadium section to Turn 1 as a corner where every driver is trying to carve out space for a flying lap.

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Qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix is scheduled for Saturday, with lights out on Sunday. Whatever grid positions Verstappen and Lawson secure in qualifying, both will start the race one place further back.

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