Liam Lawson and Sergio Pérez reignite rivalry at Australian Grand Prix
A rivalry that has persisted for two years between Liam Lawson and Sergio Pérez was reignited at the Australian Grand Prix as both drivers found themselves contending for position in the season opener.
This conflict traces back to the 2024 season when Lawson, competing for Racing Bulls, was being evaluated as a potential successor to Pérez at the senior team Red Bull for 2025. A notable incident occurred during Pérez’s home race in Mexico that year, where Lawson had to apologize for making a hand gesture towards Pérez from his cockpit.
Ultimately, Lawson took Pérez’s place for the 2025 season but only participated in two races with Red Bull before being reassigned back to Racing Bulls.
Pérez has since made a return to F1 with Cadillac and found himself in a contest with his former rival during his first race back.
The two nearly collided while battling for position at Turn 3, which forced Lawson wide, but later in the lap, the Racing Bulls driver executed a decisive pass on Pérez at Turn 11.
“That guy f—ing sucks,” Lawson remarked over the team radio after the maneuver.
Pérez, on the other hand, appeared puzzled by Lawson’s driving style.
“Haha! What happened with this guy?” he inquired over Cadillac’s radio.
After the race, Lawson expressed his belief that Pérez’s vigorous defense stemmed from their shared history.
“Two years later and he’s not over it!” Lawson stated. “He’s battling me as if it’s for the world championship while we are in P16.”
“Honestly, I don’t really care too much. My race was already over at that point, so never mind.”
He further commented: “It was nothing illegal, just aggressive. There was nothing … Honestly, I don’t care because it was for P16.”
Pérez downplayed the incident when addressing the media and did not reference their past rivalry.
“It was a bit of fun racing,” he remarked. “I was in a much slower car, so for me, it was just about racing.”
Lawson finished the race in 13th place, while Pérez concluded in 16th, three laps behind.
Lawson noted that any chance of a favorable result vanished at the start when he experienced a poor launch from eighth on the grid, dropping him to the back of the pack.
“I had no power,” he clarified. “I launched and just lost all power.”
“I was sitting there and couldn’t regain it, and then a couple of seconds later, I got it back and then experienced wheelspin. I don’t know what happened; I didn’t encounter that in testing.”
Source: espn.com
