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Liam Lawson was on the receiving end of Fernando Alonso’s criticism following the United States Grand Prix Sprint.
The Visa CashApp RB driver is taking part in his first full weekend with the team since replacing Daniel Ricciardo after the Singapore GP and had a relatively strong qualifying session for the Sprint having just missed out on the top 10 positions.
The Aston Martin driver also started towards the back of the grid and while the pair were not in contention for points, they still battled for track position.
READ MORE: Who is Visa Cash App RB driver Liam Lawson? Age, nationality, stats and more
Alonso was left less than impressed by Lawson’s race craft and confronted him after the Sprint in Parc Ferme, where the pair appeared animated in discussion.
Why Fernando Alonso was angry with Liam Lawson
It all started when Lawson made an opportunistic move on the opening lap of the race, with Alonso going wide at Turn 11 after the RB driver forced him onto the run-off.
Lawson fought hard to defend his position, aggressively defending against Alonso again exiting Turn 12 and through Turn 15 on the following laps.
Another exchange between the pair saw Lawson force Alonso into taking a compromising line through Turn 15, which put the Aston Martin slow on the exit and allowed Esteban Ocon to come through.
Alonso retaliated by calling Lawson an “idiot” over team radio, and vowing that he would take ‘payback’ but team radio transcripts from F1 TV broadcasts show it ended up being pointless.
The team radio exchange that made Fernando Alonso’s ‘payback’ pointless on Liam Lawson
Alonso’s payback came during qualifying for the Grand Prix, whereby the Spaniard tried to pass Lawson when exiting the pits to start their first runs at the beginning of the session.
The tactic for Alonso was to try and compromise Lawson’s preparation lap, but transcripts between Lawson and engineer Pierre Hamelin show that he was always intent on pitting after an initial lap.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Hamelin: “Okay, that’s Alonso.” | |
| Lawson: “He’s doing exactly what he said he’d do.” | |
| Hamelin: “Yeah, don’t stress about it. Forget it.” | |
| Hamelin: “Obviously when we abort this lap we keep an eye on traffic, people will keep pushing behind you.” | |
| Lawson: “Yeah, copy that. Just let me know when to go charge on.” |
Alonso has a history of retaliating against drivers who have crossed him on track, notably when he held up Lewis Hamilton during the Hungarian GP qualifying in 2007.
It appears this exchange between him and Lawson merely backfired, as the stewards also felt that Lawson did nothing wrong by not investigating him.
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