‘I don’t think it was a very clever move’ – Perez unhappy with Lawson over battle that ‘took the whole side of the car off’ in Mexico

Sergio Perez was left to rue the impact of his early-race battle with Liam Lawson during the Mexico City Grand Prix, with the Red Bull driver sustaining damage before going on to end his home event down in P17.

It had already been a tough start for Perez; the Mexican lined up in 18th on the grid following a difficult qualifying, before receiving a five-second time penalty in the opening stages of the race for a false start, having been too far forward in his grid box.

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Despite the penalty, Perez looked to be making ground through the field and edged closer towards the points when he fought with Lawson for P10. Perez initially got ahead in Turn 4 before being forced wide by the RB, with Lawson then staying in front after further duelling between the pair.

The incident caused Perez to pick up damage to the side of his RB20 and from there he faced a challenging afternoon at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, ending the race down in the last classified position of 17th.

Quizzed on how the Grand Prix had unravelled for him via the penalty and the battle with Lawson, Perez reflected: “I think we were looking great at the start, at the beginning, although with the penalty I think we should have scored points today.

“We were making progress, we were about to get into the points early on in the race with Liam. I had the position, I was ahead into Turn 5 – he was off the track getting back, I wasn’t expecting him just to carry on straight.

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“He took the whole side of the car off, but I don’t think it’s his fault because he doesn’t get any penalty.

“He did the same to Fernando [Alonso] last weekend, he did the same to Franco [Colapinto] at the end of the race and no penalty, so maybe depends who you are [in terms of] the penalty you get.”

Asked if he would discuss this with Lawson, Perez answered: “Yeah, I just told him I think we ruined both our races – I was ahead, there was no need to come together at that point. It was Lap 11 of the race, just compromising our race, both of us. I don’t think it was a very clever move.”

Despite his woes, Perez remained as popular as ever with his adoring fans at the track. In terms of how much it hurts to suffer such a result in front of his fanbase, the 34-year-old vowed to bounce back at the event in 2025.

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“I’ve been [on] the podium twice, and today I think we could have done a really good race, really good comeback, but it didn’t happen so I will try again next year,” said Perez.