Lawson fumes at Sainz after Turn 1 clash: “He’s got to have more awareness”
Mexico City’s Turn 1 is a funnel. It tempts you to brake late, invites opportunists to hang wide, and punishes anyone who gets boxed in. On Sunday, it punished Liam Lawson.
The Racing Bulls driver was out after five laps, livid and empty-handed, after Carlos Sainz’s Williams clattered into his car as the Spaniard cut across the run-off at the opening corner. The contact shredded Lawson’s floor and front wing, leaving him three seconds a lap off the pace and with no choice but to park it.
“I had a really good start,” Lawson said afterwards. “There was a lot of space on the outside so I filled it. I left plenty of room next to Carlos. I think he decided to cut the chicane but hasn’t looked left — I’m right there and he’s just driven into the side of me. It’s killed our race. You’ve got to have more awareness, honestly.”
There was no suggestion from Lawson that Sainz did it on purpose — “I don’t think he’s intentionally driven into me” — but the frustration was obvious. Racing Bulls saw a points chance vanish in an instant at a circuit that often turns the first braking zone into a pinball machine.
Sainz, who later spun into the wall at the stadium section and retired himself three laps from the flag, called it “a race full of issues,” pointing squarely at the start. “I think we were three or four into one and there was a big melee,” he said. “Like always in Mexico. A tricky one.”
This wasn’t the first time the pair have traded paint or radio barbs. Back in August at Zandvoort, they tangled late on and Sainz copped a 10s penalty for causing a collision — a sanction Williams successfully appealed, wiping the two penalty points from the Spaniard’s licence. Go back a year further to this very venue and you’ll recall Sainz, then still in red, fuming over blue flags as Lawson delayed moving aside to be lapped. The team radio clip — a curt “Lawson!” followed by an escalated “LAW-SON! That should be a penalty” — never quite left the paddock’s collective memory.
Sunday’s flashpoint was more textbook Mexico mayhem than malice. Turn 1 here rewards those who dare and those who bail early; Sainz chose the latter, skipping across the grass to avoid the squeeze but, crucially, with Lawson already committed to the outside line. The unwritten rule when you cut the corner is simple: rejoin safely. If you don’t clock who’s alongside, moments like this happen.
Lawson’s annoyance was sharpened by what could’ve been. He’d launched well, read the chaos, and placed his RB exactly where the grip usually is on Lap 1. All for naught once the Williams arrived at an angle not in the plan. “We were three seconds a lap off after that,” he said. “It’s destroyed the whole side of the floor, broken my front wing and just… ended our race.”
Whether there’s a conversation coming between them, Lawson didn’t seem keen. “There’s not really much I can say,” he shrugged. “I completely understand Turn 1 on the first lap — it’s chaotic. But we’re all trying to be aware of what’s going on. You can’t just decide to cut the chicane without looking to your left.”
For Williams, it capped a bruising afternoon. Sainz’s late crash compounded the early skirmish, and the team left the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez with a repair bill and little else. Racing Bulls were in the same boat, nursing a car back to the garage before the first stint was done and wondering what the pace might’ve been without the friendly fire.
The sub-plot now is whether this becomes a thing. The Zandvoort tangle, the Mexico blue flag shout, and now a Turn 1 clash in front of a raucous crowd. It’s the kind of slow-burn rivalry that doesn’t headline a season but hangs around on a driver’s mental shelf, just in case they meet again in the mirrors at the worst possible moment.
Both will insist there are bigger fights to focus on — and they’re right. But next time they arrive at a heavy-braking first corner, with options splitting between bravery and escape road, you can bet both helmets will carry a fresh note: check left.
