Lawson shrugs off Alonso’s fury after US GP sprint clash

Liam Lawson received a rather frosty reception from Fernando Alonso upon his return to F1 after the pair found themselves at odds during both Saturday’s Sprint event and in qualifying.

Lawson, replacing Daniel Ricciardo at RB, got on Alonso’s bad side during the 19-lap sprint as he attempted to pass the Aston Martin driver in a scrap for 16th place.

But the Spaniard felt that the Kiwi’s move was overly aggressive, nearly causing a collision, and voiced his displeasure over team radio, calling the rookie an “idiot.”

Tempers flared after the race, with a heated exchange taking place between the two drivers in parc fermé, with Alonso giving his young colleague a clear piece of his mind and threatening to “screw” him next time out.

But the tension didn’t end there. When the two drivers crossed paths again in qualifying, Alonso’s presence loomed large in Lawson’s mirrors as he climbed towards the first corner while the Spaniard exited the pits.

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Making his feelings clear one last time, the Aston Martin driver forced the issue into Turn 1, overtaking Lawson and hampering the RB driver’s lap.

“I don’t know, he said he would screw me, and I guess he kept his word,” Lawson said.

“He was really upset, I’m not sure why. We were racing for P16 and I don’t know why he was so upset. Yeah, I don’t know. It is what it is. Hopefully he can get over it and we’ll move forward.”

Lawson admitted that he found Alonso’s reaction puzzling given their battle was far down the order and didn’t seem particularly consequential.

“Just out of the box playing games. It is what it is, it’s part of it - it doesn’t bother me.

“I understand he had a pretty horrible race so I can understand why he’s upset. But if I did anything wrong I’d have got a penalty. So, yeah…”

Despite the commotion, Lawson downplayed any suggestion of a rivalry brewing between himself and the seasoned veteran.

“I don’t think we have a rivalry! We just had an incident in the race, and we can just get over it and move forward,” he added.

Alonso, for his part, declined to elaborate on what he had said to Lawson after the Sprint, but he felt the battle for such lowly positions was unnecessary.

“That is between us,” Alonso remarked when pressed on his post-race conversation with Lawson.

“He fought very hard, in my opinion, for 16th, 17th. But you know, nothing we can do,” he added. “As long as one of the two cars lifts off, there is never an accident. So it was my case today.”

Alonso, a veteran of such confrontations, dismissed the clash as part of the long Formula 1 season.

“Everyone on track is behaving as he wants, and for me, today was unnecessary. You know, everyone can have different opinions. I'm okay with that. It's 24 races, so you meet somewhere in the journey.”

Describing the near-miss in the short-form race, Alonso drew comparisons to a similar incident he had with his former teammate Lance Stroll two years ago.

“On the straight, I think we nearly crashed, like I did with Lance [Stroll] two years ago, at 300-something [km/h], and then the way he squeezed, out of the corners, you know, to the track limit itself.

“I don't want to make a big thing. There's, of course, no penalty when someone lifts off in 16/17 – that was probably the biggest surprise," he noted.

When asked for further thoughts on the situation, he shut down the conversation: "If you want to ask anything about qualifying, okay, you know this thing isn't very important."

While Alonso went on to qualify eighth for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix, Lawson will start his first F1 race since last year in Qatar from the back row of the grid following a string of grid penalties linked to his engine component changes in Austin.

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