Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson have both received one-grid place penalties for an "unacceptable" collision in second practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Verstappen tried to overtake Lawson up the inside at Turn 12 going into the old baseball stadium but the Racing Bulls driver held his ground, so the pair went side by side through Turn 13 and made contact at Turn 14 with a piece of debris falling off the Dutchman's car and causing a red flag. Collisions of this nature between drivers in practice are extremely rare, and the stewards stated both drivers "behaved in a manner that was considered unacceptable" and that a warning had been given at the team managers meeting earlier on Friday about overtaking in the final sector.
The stewards also said that Verstappen and Lawson both admitted the moves were "unnecessary and clumsy". They added: "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." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player The incident was made even more surprising by the fact the two teams have the same owners, with Racing Bulls considered Red Bull's junior squad. Racing Bulls have yet to confirm their 2027 driver line-up and Lawson's future is up in the air despite the New Zealander sitting ninth in the standings, 39 points ahead of his team-mate Arvid Lindblad and occupying the 'best of the rest' position behind the top four teams.
Asked about the incident before the stewards' verdict, Verstappen said: "I don't think it's called unlucky. Maybe not very smart behaviour what he was trying to do there. "At the end of the day, it's not going to change my weekend.
"If I would be him, I would act a little bit smarter. Also, when you are fighting for your seat, it's not very smart behaviour." Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov, who made his F1 practice debut on Friday in Mexico, is second in the Formula 2 championship and remains in contention for a Racing Bulls seat next year. Verstappen, who wields major power at Red Bull and over the summer signed a new long-term deal with the team, appeared to be referencing that situation with his comments.
In a separate interview, the four-time world champion added: "When he saw me coming, he suddenly started to accelerate. I don't know what was going through his head, that he wanted to drive me off the track in the hairpin. "That's not very sensible behaviour from someone in his position, to pick a fight with me." Lawson, who was Verstappen's team-mate for the first two rounds of the 2025 season before being brutally dropped by Red Bull, was not obliged to speak to the media after Friday's track action.
However, in the immediate aftermath of the incident, Lawson said on the radio that Verstappen "literally drove into me" and added "if I back out every single time, what the **** do I do? He actually came off the track into the side of me". Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane said both drivers were at fault for the "completely unnecessary" collision.
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