Liam Lawson clearly disagreed with his team’s order to let Max Verstappen overtake him on the second lap of the Miami Grand Prix.
However he immediately complied with the instruction to make way for his former team mate at Racing Bulls’ sister team.
The incident began after Verstappen’s first-lap spin dropped him behind Lawson. The Red Bull driver closed on the Racing Bulls but was still behind as they began slowing for turn 11.
Verstappen dived up the inside but never got sufficiently alongside Lawson. Nonetheless he forced Lawson wide, sending both off the track on the outside of the corner.
Lawson rejoined the track ahead of Verstappen. The four-times champion was unimpressed, calling Lawson an “idiot” on his radio.
“I don’t know what Max was doing there,” said Lawson as he began the second lap. His race engineer Ernesto Desiderio made no reference to the incident until Lawson accelerated out of turn eight further on the same lap.
“Liam, we need to give the position back to Max,” he said. “We need to give the position to Max. 1.3 behind. Behind him, 1.3 Albon. Do it as soon as possible.”
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Lawson objected, but complied. “He drove into the side of me,” said Lawson as he backed off significantly at the next braking zone. “I don’t understand.”
On the face of it, Lawson was entirely justified in arguing his case. F1’s racing guidelines state a driver in Verstappen’s position, overtaking on the inside, must “have its front axle at least alongside the mirror [of] the other car prior to and at the apex” and “be driven in a fully controlled manner particularly from entry to apex and not have ‘dived in’.”
Verstappen’s onboard footage of the incident showed he failed on both counts. Racing Bulls should have known from a glance that Lawson had kept his position legitimately.
It is up to the teams to decide if they feel they should surrender a position. Therefore it is striking both that Racing Bulls came to the wrong conclusion and ordered Lawson to comply so emphatically.
The situation contrasted tellingly with Verstappen’s move on Lewis Hamilton in the sprint race the previous day. Then too Verstappen dived down the inside at the same corner and both cars went off, but this time Verstappen emerged ahead.
Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase knew his driver wouldn’t be allowed to gain a position that way. But rather than give him the kind of order Lawson received, Lambiase merely advised Verstappen: “I think it’s best you give the position back to Hamilton.”
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Did Racing Bulls unnecessarily order Lawson to give up the position? It seems so.
Was the cause a misinterpretation of the racing rules, as when Red Bull incorrectly told Verstappen to let George Russell past him in Spain last year? It’s possible.
But this situation was a much clearer call than that one. It invites a different explanation: that, not for the first time, Red Bull’s second team gave them a helping hand.
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