F1 fans are all saying the same thing after Liam Lawson’s run-in with Yuki Tsunoda at US Grand Prix

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Liam Lawson’s incident with Yuki Tsunoda in the closing stages of SQ1 at the United States Grand Prix has left F1 fans saying the same thing about the New Zealander.

Tsunoda’s position as a driver within the Red Bull stable has been under fire since he took the reins from Lawson after the latter’s short two-race stint at the front-running Austrian constructor.

Due to the Japanese driver’s inability to replicate the results of his high-flying teammate, Max Verstappen, he has found himself fighting within the midfield for the majority of the season.

During one battle at the Italian Grand Prix in September, Tsunoda branded Lawson ‘ridiculous’ after the pair made contact during a manoeuvre from the Kiwi driver.

They came awfully close to making contact again, but this time it wasn’t under racing conditions, but rather a race to set their final lap of SQ1 at the United States Grand Prix.

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F1 fans slam Liam Lawson after he seemingly ‘forced’ Yuki Tsunoda off the track at the end of SQ1 at Austin

With several cars stuck in traffic as the grid left the pit lane for their final flying laps, it became clear that Tsunoda would need to get a move on in order to set a time fast enough to get himself out of the bottom five competitors.

Upon exiting the pit lane, the 25-year-old attempted to overtake Lawson at turn two, which was swiftly met with a closing door on exit.

F1 fans took to social media following the close-call, and expressed their dismay at the tactics used by the Racing Bulls driver to force his stablemate out of a better grid slot for Saturday’s Sprint race.

One user on Reddit posed the question of why Lawson felt the need to close the door so sharply on Tsunoda, to which another user replied, “Because he’s not here to make friends. He’s probably still mad that he lost the seat to Tsunoda.”

Another Reddit user speculated on a potential punishment for Lawson from the higher-ups within the Red Bull setup, commenting, “Something tells me Helmut and Mekies will have some words for Lawson there, forcing Yuki off and racing him for no reason.”

On X (formerly Twitter), fans were also united in their verdict on who was at fault for the near miss. One user commented, “Red Bull needs to take responsibility for that, and Lawson needs to apologise to Yuki.”

A different fan echoed the sentiments of the above Reddit post, posting, “Lawson’s still not happy about that Yuki demotion.”

In reference to the recent rumours surrounding Tsunoda’s future in the sport hanging by a thread, one X user commented, “If Lawson stays on the grid and Yuki doesn’t, it would be a disgrace.”

Another identified that it’s not the first time that Lawson has got in the way of a fellow stablemate of the Milton Keynes-based constructor, saying, “Lawson screwing over a Red Bull driver part 39486832.”

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David Croft reacts to Yuki Tsunoda’s radio message after the incident with Liam Lawson in SQ1

A replay of the tight squeeze between the two on-track rivals was accompanied by a radio message from the Japanese driver.

In a relatively muted response from the usual feedback Tsunoda gives during sticky situations, he said to his race engineer, “I mean… what?”

In reaction to the message being broadcast, David Croft told his co-commentator, Martin Brundle, on Sky Sports F1’s coverage of the Sprint qualifying session, “Well, that is quite mild, I think, for Yuki Tsunoda and his feelings at the moment.

“I’d be absolutely furious if I were him.”

Tsunoda will start from 18th place on the grid for Saturday’s Sprint race, a position that is of stark contrast to the pole position that his teammate Verstappen claimed in the same session.