Verstappen and Lawson Get Grid Penalties After Mexico Practice Clash

Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson will each drop one place on the grid for Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix after they collided in Friday's second practice session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The stewards gave both drivers a one place grid penalty and one penalty point on their superlicences after hearing from them following the session on Friday, October 30.

The contact came 13 minutes into the session. Verstappen, in the Red Bull, was on a preparation lap. Lawson, in the Racing Bulls car, was on a cool down lap preparing for another push lap. Verstappen dived down the inside of Lawson at Turn 12. Lawson held his ground through Turn 13, in the stadium section of the circuit. Verstappen went over the kerbs at Turn 14, the cars came together side on, and contact damaged the floor of the Red Bull and the front wing of the Racing Bulls car. Debris was scattered across the track and the session was stopped under a red flag while it was cleared.

What the stewards decided

After the session the stewards reviewed video footage and data and spoke to both drivers. In their decision document, quoted by Formula1.com, the stewards said the drivers of both cars behaved in a manner that was considered unacceptable, particularly in view of a warning that had been given at the team managers meeting earlier that day. Both drivers admitted the moves were unnecessary and clumsy, the stewards said.

The stewards said they escalated the penalty from a formal warning to a grid drop because of that warning and because there had been similar incidents this year between drivers in free practice. Reuters reported the same reasoning.

Both drivers finished the session after it resumed. Verstappen finished fifth and Lawson ninth. Both had sat out first practice, when rookies Ayumu Iwasa and Nikola Tsolov took over their cars.

What the drivers and the team said

Verstappen criticised Lawson before they saw the stewards. He told reporters: "Maybe not very smart behaviour what he was trying to do there. At the end of the day, it is not going to change my weekend, but if I were him, I would act a little smarter, and when you're fighting for your seat, it's not very smart behaviour."

Lawson gave a different account over team radio. He said: "He literally just drove into me."

Racing Bulls team boss Alan Permane criticised both when he spoke to the BBC. He said: "One word, unnecessary. And I say that of both of them." He added that both could do better and the incident was not needed in a practice session.

Why the penalty matters for Lawson

Both drivers are contracted to Red Bull, which owns Red Bull and Racing Bulls, Reuters reported. Lawson and Verstappen were teammates at Red Bull this year while Isack Hadjar was injured, and briefly for two races at the start of last season.

For Lawson, the timing carries extra weight. He has yet to be confirmed by Racing Bulls for next season, a point Verstappen raised in his criticism. The drop will apply to wherever each man qualifies on Sunday. Both will start one place lower than they qualify, with one new penalty point each, from an incident 13 minutes into a practice session both sides called unnecessary.