Liam Lawson has continuted to double down on his incident with Carlos Sainz at Zandvoort. Image: XPB Images
The two drivers clashed at Zandvoort in the immediate aftermath of the first Safety Car restart on Lap 26, when Sainz attempted a move around the outside of Turn 1.
Contact between the Williams and Racing Bulls machines left both with punctures and forced unscheduled pit stops that ruined their chances of scoring points.
Stewards reviewed the incident and placed the blame on Sainz, handing the Williams driver a 10-second penalty and two penalty points on his licence.
The Spaniard was furious, labelling the decision “the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life” and suggesting Lawson had made life unnecessarily difficult.
“When racing him it always seems to be very difficult to have two cars side-by-side,” Sainz complained in the aftermath.
“He always seems to prefer to have a bit of contact and risk a DNF or a puncture like we did, than to actually accept having two cars side-by-side.”
Carlos Sainz was handed a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Liam Lawson at the restart
He’s not very happy about it! 😤#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/ffZRKYlzKK
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 31, 2025
Lawson, though, has made it clear he does not accept Sainz’s criticism, and was surprised the Spaniard had made such comments when asked if there was an issue between the pair on Thursday’s media day in Monza.
“I mean, no, to me I’m surprised,” said Lawson.
“It’s that on a restart we have cold tyres, hard tyres. We’re all on new tyres after the Safety Car. It’s a naturally difficult corner. We’re all coming in there on lap one.
“He’s the car going for the overtake around the outside, and he didn’t get his axle where he needed to get it. And somehow I’m deemed as being aggressive. So I don’t really understand it.
“But it ruined my race. We were in a position to potentially have two cars in the top five, but I didn’t go on the radio and mouth off to everybody about it or to the media.
“So, yeah, it’s his approach after that race but I don’t know why he was so upset, honestly.”
The 23-year-old added that he has been left surprised by the lack of direct dialogue between them since Zandvoort.
“I haven’t heard from him,” Lawson said.
“I would have thought because of how upset he was, he would probably want to talk about it, but he hasn’t.
“He hasn’t come to talk about it.”
Lawson pointed to the updated FIA racing guidelines — agreed between drivers last year and applied this season — as leaving little ambiguity over the call.
The rules state that for a car to claim space on the outside of a corner, its front axle must be ahead of the car on the inside at the apex. According to Lawson, that was not the case.
“I don’t know why I was deemed as being aggressive when he was the car overtaking me,” he said.
“I was just defending. I think if the incident was my fault, I would have got a penalty.
“So to me it’s pretty clear.”
The fallout has now extended beyond the drivers, with Williams submitting a Right of Review request to the FIA, challenging the stewards’ decision to penalise Sainz.
While the outcome would not change Lawson’s race result, the team insists the matter is about clarity for future wheel-to-wheel battles.
“We can confirm we have submitted a Right of Review to the FIA relating to Carlos’ penalty in Zandvoort,” a Williams team statement read.
“It is important for us to understand how to go racing in future, and we are hopeful of a positive outcome.”
The FIA has yet to confirm when the request will be heard. If accepted, both teams would have the opportunity to present their cases before any potential amendment to the penalty.