Lawson says Miami Verstappen call was a mistake

Liam Lawson says Racing Bulls made a mistake, not a coordinated move, when it ordered him to give a place back to Max Verstappen after their clash at the Miami Grand Prix.

Speaking ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, the Racing Bulls driver said the team made a snap call because it believed he was at fault for the Turn 11 incident and wanted to avoid a penalty. A later review changed that view. “Yeah, we made a mistake,” Lawson said. “Yeah, we shouldn’t have done that, because the move was actually Max’s fault.”

The instruction became a flashpoint because McLaren CEO Zak Brown cited it in a letter to the FIA as part of his argument against “A and B team ownership in Formula 1.” Lawson rejected any suggestion that the order showed improper cooperation between the two Red Bull-owned teams.

“We’re doing everything by the rules. That’s the most important thing,” Lawson said. “We’re not breaking any rules with anything like that.” He added that “if it had been any other car, it would have been the exact same decision,” saying the call was a Racing Bulls error rather than preferential treatment for Verstappen.

During the Miami race, Racing Bulls engineer Alexandre Iliopoulos told him over the radio: “give the position back to Max. We need to give the position back to Max. Do it as soon as possible.” Lawson replied: “Drove into the side of me. I don’t understand.” He then slowed and let Verstappen through.

Lawson said the problem was not intent but the way the incident was judged in the moment. “When reviewing it, I think the way it was reviewed from the team... we didn’t look at it properly,” he said. He explained that the team had little time to decide during the race, which increased the chance of getting it wrong.

That, in Lawson’s telling, is the real lesson from Miami. Racing Bulls acted too quickly, then found on review that it had surrendered track position unnecessarily. “But you have such a short amount of time to make a decision, and that’s why you can get it wrong, and I think we did,” he said. “But it was definitely something where, if we faced it again, we wouldn’t make the same decision.”