Red Bull’s take on Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson’s Mexico GP crash
Laurent Mekies reacts to the clash involving Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson in Mexico Grand Prix practice.
Red Bull Formula 1 team principal Laurent Mekies says the clash between Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson in Friday practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix was “unnecessary”.
Four-time world champion Verstappen and Lawson, who drives for Red Bull’s sister team Racing Bulls, clashed during second practice while running side-by-side through a sequence of corners in the stadium section at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Verstappen and Lawson were both given one-place grid penalties for the needless incident.
Addressing the collision for the first time on Saturday, Red Bull boss Mekies told Sky Sports F1: “I think everything has been said already, it’s a bit unnecessary.
“You don’t really want that to happen because in the end we all lost track time, we lost some parts on the car and obviously now we have lost a grid position. But at some stage you have to put it behind.
“We are a bit on the back foot this weekend and I really don’t want to use that as an excuse for it. We’ve got work to do but let’s see now if we’ve got a bit of pace.”
An angry Verstappen accused Lawson of “not very smart behaviour when you’re fighting for your seat”.
The Dutchman’s comment was a reference to the fact Racing Bulls has not yet finalised its driver line-up for the 2027 season.
When asked about the decision facing Racing Bulls, Mekies, who ran the team prior to his promotion to the senior squad, said: “I think you have to separate both aspects.
“You have something that was very unnecessary on the track and therefore it’s frustrating for the drivers and its frustrating for the teams involved. This is probably what you hear with Max’s answer.
“Then there is the driver decisions. The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver decision is made. The one that Racing Bulls will do is down to them and only down to them.”
Mekies rejected the notion that Verstappen could have any sway on who will get the seats at Racing Bulls because of his great influence at Red Bull.
“No,” was Mekies’ reply. “Max knows motorsport far too much to be influenced by a single incident anyway.”
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
