Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson have each received one-place grid drop penalties for colliding during the second practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix.
The stewards decided both drivers were responsible for the collision at turn 16. They also gave each driver a single penalty point on their licences.The pair made contact at turn 16. Verstappen tried to overtake Lawson earlier in the lap but the Racing Bulls driver refused to give way. Lawson left no room for his rival at the exit of turn 13, but when Verstappen rejoined the track the pair made contact.
The stewards ruled a grid drop penalty was deserved in this case because similar incidents had happened involving other drivers earlier in the year.
“On the approach to turn 12 car 3 was on a preparation lap and car 30 was on a cool down lap preparing for another push lap,” they noted. “The drivers of both cars behaved in a manner that was considered unacceptable by the stewards particularly in view of the warning that had been given at the Team Managers meeting earlier this day.
“Both drivers admitted the moves were unnecessary and ‘clumsy’.
“Noting that there had been similar incidents this year of actions between drivers in free practice, the stewards have decided to escalate the penalty from that of a formal warning to a grid position penalty particularly in view of the warning that had been provided at the team managers meeting and consistent with other incidents involving contact between the cars in free practice in previous years.”
Verstappen criticised Lawson for the collision. “[It was] not very smart behaviour, what he was trying to do there,” he said.
The pair have been previously team mates at Red Bull on two separate occasions. Lawson returned to Red Bull’s second team, Racing Bulls, after substituting for Verstappen’s regular team mate Isack Hadjar earlier this year.
“At the end of the day, it’s not going to change my weekend, but if I were him, I would act a little bit smarter,” said Verstappen. “Also, when you’re fighting for your seat, it’s not very smart behaviour.”
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