Stewards penalise Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson for contact

Stewards penalise clumsy contact

Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson received one-place grid penalties and one penalty point each following a clumsy and unnecessary clash during the second practice session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The contact occurred just 13 minutes into the session in the stadium section. Verstappen, driving the Red Bull, attempted to overtake Lawson, in the Racing Bulls, heading towards Turn 12. Lawson held his ground going into Turn 13 after driving for Racing Bulls due to an injury to Isack Hadjar. He waved frustration at the New Zealander. As Verstappen moved back over the kerb and onto the circuit at Turn 14, the two drivers made contact. The incident caused a red flag for five minutes to clear debris from the exit of Turn 13, and Lawson required a new front wing while Verstappen had to deal with a broken bargeboard that reduced his downforce for the rest of the session. The Stewards noted that Car 3 was on a preparation lap and Car 30 was on a cool down lap. The Stewards decided to escalate the penalty from a formal warning to a grid position penalty because of similar incidents this year and a warning provided at the Team Managers meeting earlier that day. Both drivers admitted the moves were unnecessary and "clumsy".

Drivers and team reactions

Verstappen told Sky Sports that Lawson’s behavior was "not smart" because the driver is currently fighting for his seat at Racing Bulls. He noted that Lawson faces an uncertain future with the team since they have yet to confirm him for the 2027 season. "Maybe not very smart behaviour, what he was trying to do there," Verstappen said. He added that if he were in Lawson’s position, he would act "a little bit smarter." Verstappen explained he was on a fast out lap because he had "little issues" and was pushing, while Lawson was driving slowly but sped up as Verstappen arrived. He also said he did not understand "what went through Liam’s head" in the hairpin when Lawson tried to run him off the track. Lawson received his fourth penalty point on his superlicence. Verstappen received his first penalty point in a 12-month period. Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane described the collision as a "storm in a teacup" and called the action "unnecessary." Permane also stated that both drivers would likely be calm and think they could have done better in the cold light of day. He added that the incident was related to the need for drivers to keep tires in the right operating window at the Mexico circuit. Lawson is one of three contenders for a Racing Bulls seat in 2027, alongside Arvid Lindblad and Nikola Tsolov, who appeared in FP1 for Racing Bulls in Mexico.

FP2 results and session setbacks

The collision left Verstappen in fifth place with a 1m18.138s and Lawson in ninth with a 1m18.455s. Charles Leclerc won the session with a 1m17.827s, ahead of Lando Norris in second and George Russell in third. Kimi Antonelli finished fourth. Isack Hadjar took sixth place. The rest of the top ten included Arvid Lindblad, Pierre Gasly, Lawson, and Oscar Piastri.

Lewis Hamilton also suffered a setback. He reported "Something’s wrong with the car" before stating, "I lost all power from Turn 13." This forced his team to instruct him to stop, causing a brief Virtual Safety Car and costing him 30 minutes of running. The power loss occurred after he had set a pace of 1m18.741s on medium tyres.