What Liam Lawson did when overtaking Sergio Perez that will leave Mexico City Grand Prix fans fuming

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The Mexico City Grand Prix wasn’t the homecoming that Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez wanted or needed.

Sergio Perez came into the Mexico City Grand Prix knowing that his race seat for the 2025 F1 season at Red Bull was under pressure despite being contracted for next year.

Perez is a long way behind teammate Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship and RB drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson are both gunning for his seat.

Helmut Marko believes Tsunoda is a candidate for Perez’s seat, however, Tsunoda’s race was ended by a collision with Alex Albon on the opening lap of the Grand Prix.

Lawson didn’t fare much better and was unable to replicate his points-scoring efforts at the United States Grand Prix on his second F1 debut.

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The Kiwi thought he should have been starting the race from inside the top ten, but Tsunoda’s crash in qualifying ended his hopes of completing one last flying lap.

Qualifying went much worse for Perez who didn’t progress behind Q1, being eliminated alongside McLaren star Oscar Piastri.

Things didn’t start well for the Mexican in the race either, starting from the wrong position and being penalised as a result.

Martin Brundle and David Croft were commentating on the race for Sky Sports F1 and were fascinated by a battle between Lawson and Perez.

They both were on very different strategies and so despite starting six places apart on the grid, kept coming across each other on the track.

Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson’s intense battle at the Mexican Grand Prix

During the opening stages of the race, Perez was making his way through the pack and came across Lawson.

At the same place Max Verstappen was penalised in his battle with Lando Norris, Perez and Lawson came to blows.

Perez pushed Lawson wide before the Kiwi forced the Red Bull driver off the track and he picked up damage as a result.

The Mexican ended up having to pit three times during the race, the final stop was to try and steal the fastest lap off Ferrari but unfortunately, he failed to do so with a damaged car.

However, Lawson didn’t survive the race unscathed either and made contact with Franco Colapinto in the closing stages.

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Perez’s engineer warned his driver about the debris that had come off Lawson’s car and said: “Ok, there might be debris at turn 12.”

Perez replied: “I’m guessing it’s the same idiot who had a crash before,” to which his engineer said: “You can watch the highlights later.”

Perez quickly retorted: “I’m watching right now.”

On commentary, Croft said: “He doesn’t like Lawson very much?” to which Brundle added: “It’s Liam Lawson’s front wing, isn’t it?

“He’ll be watching that on a diamond screen Sergio Perez, down there in 15th.”

What Liam Lawson did to Sergio Perez at the Mexico City Grand Prix that will leave fans fuming

Onboard footage of Lawson overtaking Perez down the main straight will leave plenty of fans at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez very upset with the RB driver.

As he drafts past the 34-year-old, he takes one hand off the steering wheel and appears to swear at his rival for next year’s Red Bull seat.

Unfortunately, Lawson couldn’t make his way through the pack like he did in Austin and after making contact with Colapinto said on the team radio, “I honestly had nowhere to go.”

While Perez will give little solace from Lawson’s race also coming unstuck, it highlights the pressure building on all three drivers battling to be Max Verstappen’s teammate next year.

Perez now has just four races left to prove to Red Bull that he’s the right man for the job next season.