Perez lays into 'disrespectful' Lawson - but Red Bull is unmoved

Sergio Perez accused his 2025 Red Bull Formula 1 seat rival Liam Lawson of having a disrespectful attitude to senior drivers and urged the Red Bull hierarchy to intervene after their Mexican Grand Prix crash.

But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner's muted initial reaction to the incident suggests Perez's pleas about Lawson may not get far.

Perez was attempting to pass Lawson for 10th in the early stages at Mexico City, making it through in the first part of the opening complex before Lawson came back at him.

Contact was made and the Red Bull also went over the kerb, leaving it with sidepod and floor damage that destroyed Perez's pace for the rest of his home grand prix.

Both drivers slammed the other over team radio and Lawson raised a finger at Perez as he passed him afterwards, with Perez limping to 17th and last while Lawson was only one place higher after a later clash with Williams driver Franco Colapinto.

Perez declared that both those incidents plus Lawson's Austin spat with Fernando Alonso a week ago showed he was out of line in both his driving and attitude.

“He was outside the track and just came in straight like there was no car,” said Perez.

“I think he could have avoided the incident. Luckily I saw him and I opened the room, otherwise it would have been a massive crash.

“There was no need. It damaged both of our races.

“I think it was just a little bit too much. He did the same with Fernando, with Franco at the end. And there are no penalties.”

Asked what his relationship with Lawson was like - amid the paddock understanding that Lawson has been brought back into RB as a trial run to see if he would be a worthwhile Perez replacement at Red Bull Racing for 2025 - Perez gave a very blunt reply.

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“I don’t have any relationship with him,” he said.

“The way he has come into Formula 1, I don't think he has the right attitude for it.

“He needs to be a bit more humble. When a two-time world champion was saying things last weekend, he completely ignored him.

“When you come to Formula 1, you're obviously very hungry but you have to be respectful on track and off track and I don't think he's showing the right attitude.

“I think he's a great driver and I hope for him that he can step back and learn from it.”

In a later answer, Perez intimated that rather than moving into a top team, Lawson would probably have a short F1 career if he didn't change his ways.

“He has to think, 'I'm overdoing it a little bit' and step back and start again and do the learning you have to do as a youngster because if you don't learn from your mistakes, Formula 1 is a brutal world and you might not continue,” said Perez.

Asked if he thought Red Bull chiefs Christian Horner and Helmut Marko should ask Lawson to change his approach to racing other cars and stablemates in particular, Perez replied: “That's none of my business, that's up to them. But today it cost Red Bull Racing a lot of points so I think they should speak to him.”

But when quizzed about the Lawson/Perez clash and whether Lawson should have given a car from the senior team an easier run, Horner's response wasn't exactly what Perez was hoping for.

“They're independent teams and as you can see they race each other hard,” Horner said to Sky of RB and Red Bull.

“There was contact and Checo unfortunately picked up quite a lot of damage, there was about 65-70 points of [downforce] damage with the hole in the sidepod and the floor.

“But that's racing. We saw a lot of tough racing out there today.”

Lawson was as unimpressed with Perez's driving as Perez had been with his - though Horner suggested that Lawson had later sought Perez out to apologise and clear the air.

“He drove me off the track and then he didn't give me space into Turn 5,” was Lawson's take immediately after the race. “So it's just unfortunate. I didn't have anywhere to go.”

But he was repentant about the gesticulation he'd made at Perez afterwards.

“It's one of those in the moment things,” Lawson added.

“He spent half the lap blocking me, trying to ruin my race. I was upset.

“It's not an excuse, I shouldn't have done it and I apologise for that.

“It's not in my character and not something that should be done.”