Liam Lawson shares the heart-stopping moment he ‘nearly crashed’ during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix

Follow us on Google Discover

Liam Lawson has revealed that he was close to crashing out of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on several occasions in the sodden conditions.

Rain had threatened most of the day with the race itself brought forward several hours to prevent it from being impacted by the storms forecasted for the evening.

The weather still impacted the race, with drivers having to run the intermediate tyre throughout in the tricky conditions. Lawson managed to qualify in fifth place for the race after an impressive showing but seemingly went backwards after an early pit stop onto the full-wet tyres.

This is because the rain had started to intensify at the circuit and Lawson wanted to make the switch, as drivers started to struggle to keep their cars on track.

In the case of Lawson, he revealed that he nearly crashed at least 10 times while trying to stay on track when speaking on the F1 TV post-race show.

Liam Lawson almost crashed 10 times during Sao Paulo Grand Prix

The conditions were challenging for the drivers as they struggled to keep their cars on track as the rain progressively got heavier.

Lawson revealed he had a close moment when entering the pits, which feeds off the high-speed Juncao left-hander.

“I nearly crashed about 10 times, I don’t know about you but it was very sketchy. Even coming into the pit lane, we made the call to stop and I wasn’t stopping,” said Lawson.

“I was aiming straight for the tyre wall and just gripped before then. Fair play to Alpine for staying out and surviving it, but I think we lost a bit of time earlier due to the spin with Piastri.”

What Oscar Piastri did to Liam Lawson after collision

Lawson was caught up in an incident with Oscar Piastri midway through the race, with the McLaren driver attempting to overtake him into the first corner.

Piastri sent his McLaren up the inside and tagged the rear left of Lawson, sending him spinning around and off the track before he rejoined.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

The stewards gave Piastri a 10-second time penalty for the incident, with the Australian having to serve it at the end of the race because he did not make any pit stop.

When the red flag came Piastri went straight to Lawson to apologise for the incident, effectively owning up to the mistake that cost them both ground in the race.