Lawson won’t change approach: ‘I’m not in F1 to make friends’

Liam Lawson has made it clear that he won't be changing his approach to racing in the wake of his heated on-track incident with Sergio Perez at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Lawson, competing in just his second race with Visa Cash App RB, experienced a fierce battle with Perez that culminated in a minor collision with the Red Bull driver that drew plenty of attention both on and off the track.

In the first part of the event at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Lawson and Perez found themselves side-by-side at Turn 4 as the local hero attempted an overtake on their younger rival.

Unwilling to yield, Lawson kept his position, which led to the two cars making contact at the following right-hander. While Perez initially stayed ahead, Lawson ultimately overtook him on the main straight.

The Kiwi, visibly content to gain the upper hand, indulged in a middle-finger gesture as he breezed past Perez, an aggressive salute captured by his onboard camera and for which he later apologized, admitting he had been out of line.

• Read also: F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2024 Mexico City GP

However, regarding his wheel-to-wheel tussle with Perez, Lawson made it clear he isn't planning to change his driving style.

“My attitude towards racing and how I approach races in Formula 1 won't change, that's how I'll always be,” he said in Brazil on Thursday, quoted by Motorsport.com.

“But at the same time there's things in there, if I make mistakes I'll always learn from them, and clearly in Mexico I made a mistake, and I'll learn from it.

“Briefly we spoke after the race, but at the same time we left the track very early, immediately afterwards anyway. I think it was an on-track fight and I obviously apologized for what I did after the incident.

“But in terms of the fight we had on track, it was, I guess, deemed as a racing incident and something that was an in-the-moment battle.”

While Lawson, who remains a strong contender for a potential full-time seat at Red Bull in 2025, particularly if Sergio Perez continues to underperform, is open to learning from his experiences, he emphasized that his primary focus is performance, not friendships.

“I'll learn from, maybe, mistakes that I made,” he added. “But at the same time, I'll take advice from everybody I can and my target is not to go out and make enemies with anybody, that's not the goal obviously.

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

The incident drew a critical response from Red Bull's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, who labeled it an “unnecessary collision” and suggested that Lawson bore more responsibility in the matter.

Nonetheless, the 22-year-old believes his racing approach aligns with Red Bull's expectations.

“I don't think they want me to race differently,” he said.

“But obviously the target is not to make contact with another Red Bull car, and as I said at the time it wasn't my intention at the moment, and looking back maybe I could have avoided it and clearly that would have been the right thing to do at the time.”

As the 2024 season draws to close, Lawson will be eager to impress and secure a permanent seat in Formula 1.

But his aggressive driving style, while somewhat controversial, has undoubtedly caught the attention of the Red Bull hierarchy.

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