It was a weekend to forget for Liam Lawson in Mexico. Image: XPB Images
Lawson had a strong start from 15th on the grid, taking advantage of space on the outside of Turn 1, but the collision damaged the side of his car and forced an early retirement.
It marked the New Zealander’s third consecutive race without points, his first DNF since the British Grand Prix, and fifth non-finish of the year.
“We had a really good start and there was a lot of space on the outside in Turn 1, so I filled the gap,” Lawson explained.
“A lot of drivers were sliding and I left plenty of space next to Carlos, but then he decided to cut the chicane without looking left.
“This meant he drove into the side of me and unfortunately it destroyed the side of my car, meaning we had to retire.
“The speed we’ve had all weekend has been good, so it’s a shame we weren’t able to demonstrate that here in Mexico.
“We’ll of course take learnings from this weekend as we head into Brazil in a couple of weeks.”
Team principal Alan Permane described the weekend as challenging for the squad, which saw Lawson’s teammate Isack Hadjar finish in 13th after starting eighth on the grid.
“A very difficult weekend for us all round here in Mexico,” Permane said.
“Liam’s race was over before it started, he got a very good launch at the start but was taken out on the exit of Turn 1, costing him a huge amount of damage and resulting in us having to retire the car.
“With Isack, despite having good pace yesterday, we didn’t have that pace today.”
Permane added that the team is already looking ahead to Brazil.
“We look forward to getting home after these tough couple of races in the Americas,” he said.
“But we’ll be putting our heads down and working hard, making sure we’re putting everything together for the Sprint race in Brazil in a couple of weeks’ time.”
Lawson’s weekend was further marred by a frightening incident early in the race, when he narrowly avoided hitting marshals on track after sustaining his opening lap damage.
“The fuck? Oh my god,” Lawson radioed to his team.
“Are you kidding me? Did you just see that?
“Oh my god, dude. I could have fucking killed them, mate.”
Racing Bulls hold on to sixth in the constructors’ championship by just three points from Aston Martin, with Haas a further 10 points behind.