Liam Lawson ‘ridiculed’ Sergio Perez at Sao Paulo Grand Prix after latest ‘irrelevant’ weekend

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Liam Lawson and Sergio Perez once again met on track at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. After their collision in Mexico, they managed to keep things clean this time.

A spat broke out between Lawson and Perez at the latter’s home race, no doubt fuelled by their battle to partner Max Verstappen in 2025. Perez called Lawson an ‘idiot’ after his aggressive defensive driving put a hole in his sidepod, though the stewards deemed it a racing incident.

Lawson gave Perez the middle finger when he passed him later in the race, and was forced to apologise. Red Bull reminded him to show greater calmness when racing the sister team.

Nonetheless, Lawson moved under braking when racing Perez in Saturday’s Sprint. Karun Chandhok and David Croft agreed that he’d just about stayed within the realms of the regulations.

Perez got past to take the final points spot, having started five places behind Lawson in 13th. They would jostle again in the race, where the RB driver once again lined up well ahead.

Lawson delivered the finest qualifying performance of his career so far to take fifth on the grid, while Perez joined Verstappen in exiting in Q2 after an ill-timed red flag. The New Zealander eventually finished ninth, with Lewis Hamilton separating him from Perez.

Gian Carlo Minardi says Liam Lawson was mocking Sergio Perez over team radio at Brazilian Grand Prix

Writing in his post-race column, former F1 team boss Gian Carlo Minardi said Perez had hurt Lando Norris in the F1 title fight. While Norris has to deal with the exceptionally fast Oscar Piastri, Verstappen has been in a different league to his teammate.

Minardi noted that the ‘absolutely irrelevant’ Perez had been ‘ridiculed’ by Lawson after another error-strewn weekend. It’s likely that he was referring to Lawson’s radio messages in the Sprint.

Lawson said he didn’t ‘even have the words’ for what he saw when he was behind Perez. And he also remarked ‘oh my god’ when he saw the Mexican locking up.

Minardi wrote: “It will certainly not be easy for Norris to make up the 62-point gap, not only because there are only three rounds, but above all because he is up against a great driver who, once again, cancelled his teammate: absolutely irrelevant for the whole weekend, the protagonist of various mistakes and also ridiculed by Lawson.”

Christian Horner has now ruled out replacing Sergio Perez with ‘very good driver’ for 2025 season

Technically, Perez is under contract for next year. He signed an extension in June that covers 2025 and potentially 2026 (the second season is optional).

However, Red Bull also included break clauses in his deal. Perez ‘doesn’t want to admit’ the truth about his contract, bullishly declaring that the team will honour their commitment.

It looks to be a straight fight between him and Lawson, rather than any external candidates. If Franco Colapinto joins from Williams, he’ll likely slot into RB at first.

Christian Horner has also ruled out Carlos Sainz even though he’s a ‘very good driver’. Sainz has signed for Williams, and Red Bull won’t make any effort to extricate him from that agreement.