{"id":946999,"date":"2026-10-31T00:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T00:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/946999\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T00:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T00:56:15","slug":"verstappen-blasts-not-smart-liam-lawson-clash-when-fighting-for-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/946999\/","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen blasts ‘not smart’ Liam Lawson clash when ‘fighting for seat’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen<\/a> said it was \u201cnot smart\u201d of Liam Lawson to \u201cpick a fight with me\u201d at a time where he is \u201cfighting\u201d to keep his Racing Bulls<\/a> seat.<\/p>\n

The Red Bull driver\u2019s blunt comments come after he collided with Lawson, his former Red Bull teammate, during the second practice session ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen hits out at \u2018not smart\u2019 Liam Lawson<\/p>\n

The pair were involved in a bizarre collision which triggered a red flag during FP2 with debris left on the track.<\/p>\n

Heading into the stadium section, Verstappen, in the Red Bull, pulled a move down the inside of Lawson<\/a> in the junior Racing Bulls car.<\/p>\n

Lawson held his ground going into Turn 13, as Verstappen waved a hand of frustration in the direction of the New Zealander.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman was shown the edge of the track, and as he came back over the kerb and onto the circuit, the pair made contact.<\/p>\n

While the damage inflicted was not too extensive, Lawson did require a change of front wing, while Verstappen\u2019s bargeboard had seen better days.<\/p>\n

The incident instigated a brief red flag so that marshals could clear the debris coming out of T13.<\/p>\n

The clash was noted by the FIA stewards. That was upgraded to a post-session investigation, both Verstappen and Lawson summoned.<\/p>\n

After the session, Verstappen was asked by Sky F1 whether it was an unlucky collision with Lawson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s called unlucky,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe not very smart behaviour, what he was trying to do there.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I mean, at the end of the day, it\u2019s not going to change my weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if I would be him, I would act a little bit smarter. Also, when you\u2019re fighting for your seat, it\u2019s not very smart behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Racing Bulls is yet to decide its F1 2027 driver line-up. Lawson, current teammate Arvid Lindblad, and Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov \u2013 who appeared in FP1 for Racing Bulls in Mexico \u2013 are the contenders.<\/p>\n

Verstappen shed further light on the circumstances surrounding his Lawson collision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on a fast out lap because I had some little issues, so I was pushing on quite a bit. He was driving really slow, so I was like, \u2018Right, let\u2019s go for it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as soon as he saw me arrive, he started to speed up as well, and I don\u2019t know what was going through his head in that hairpin, trying to just run me off the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s just not very smart behaviour when you\u2019re in his position to pick a fight with with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latest Mexican Grand Prix talking points on PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n

FIA clarifies bizarre Colton Herta Super Licence confusion<\/a><\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton makes personal gesture to Esteban Ocon after Haas F1 exit<\/a><\/p>\n

Verstappen added that his \u201cbargeboard was broken up\u201d after the contact, \u201cso of course you lose downforce for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verstappen went on to finish FP2 in fifth, Lawson ninth.<\/p>\n

Read next \u2013 Mexican GP: Verstappen and Lawson clash, Hamilton stops, Leclerc tops FP2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen said it was \u201cnot smart\u201d of Liam Lawson to \u201cpick a fight with me\u201d at a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-946999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}