Verstappen rebukes Lawson: That was not very smart in his position

Max Verstappen was due to report to the stewards after second practice in Mexico for driving unpredictably while battling Liam Lawson. The Dutchman, however, felt it was Lawson who had needlessly made life difficult for himself and was showing himself the door at Racing Bulls.

Battles for track position take place even in practice. Verstappen tried to pass Lawson at Turn 12, but his counterpart at the junior team was not going to make it easy for him. They went wheel-to-wheel through the entire stadium section until the Dutchman ran out of room. Forced to cut the track, he then hit Lawson. Both cars sustained minor damage.

“Well, I don’t think it’s called unlucky. Maybe not very smart behaviour, what he was trying to do there. I mean, 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. Also, when you’re fighting for your seat, it’s not very smart behaviour,” said Max Verstappen.

If Helmut Marko were still in charge at Red Bull, Lawson could be starting to pack his bags. The management is a little more lenient now, but treating a driver from the sister team like this will not help him keep his seat ahead of Nikola Tsolov.

“As soon as he saw me arrive, he started to speed up… I don’t know what was going through his head,” said Verstappen, shaking his head. “He was trying to just run me off the track. For me, it’s just not very smart behaviour when you’re in his position to pick a fight with me.”

A Le Mans-style start

Verstappen has another concern heading into the rest of the Mexican weekend, however. With the high altitude and turbo issues, the start procedure will be even more challenging than at other circuits. That is not good news for Red Bull, and seemingly not for Mercedes either. According to CANAL+, the Silver Arrows tried to persuade the FIA to extend the start procedure in Mexico even more. To the delight of Ferrari fans, they were unsuccessful.

Red Bull’s practice starts did not go well either. “I do a start at the end of the pit lane, disaster. I do another start, another disaster,” an exasperated Verstappen said over the radio. “Why are we not just changing something? Or it’s better I do start like at Le Mans, you know? I run, push the car and jump in!”

In the media pen, he could only sigh: “Nothing new. We know our limitations. It’s not gonna magically change from one weekend to the other….”

At least the qualifying pace is not bad. “This session probably could have gone a little bit better, but at the same time I think we are not too far off. Just a little bit o fine-tuning to do, but I guess everyone will say the same thing. It never feels great, but of course you look at everyone else and I think no one was having a great time out there in terms of grip.”