Written by: Sofia Costantino, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
We had our own cowboys this weekend with rookie Liam Lawson having a heated argument with the world champion Fernando Alonso. Here’s how it all played out during the weekend at Austin.
Liam Lawson, the VCARB driver making his full-time Formula One debut at the Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix, addressed his altercation with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso after the sprint race, during which Alonso threatened to "screw" him.
During Saturday morning's 19-lap sprint race, Lawson attempted to pass Alonso, unsettling the two-time champion.
Alonso duly expressed his frustration, feeling Lawson's manoeuvre could have led to a crash, and was angry about it. Their tensions flared again in the qualifying session later on, when Alonso overtook Lawson exiting the pit lane, affecting Lawson's lap time.
Lawson shared details of Alonso's threat with the media: “I don’t know, he said he would scr*w me, and I guess he kept his word. “He was really upset, I’m not sure why. We were racing for P16 and I don’t know why he was so upset. Yeah, I don’t know. It is what it is.
“Hopefully he can get over it and we’ll move forward. Just out of the box playing games. It is what it is, it’s part of it — it doesn’t bother me. “I understand he had a pretty horrible race so I can understand why he’s upset. But if I did anything wrong I’d have got a penalty. So, yeah…”
Lawson didn't think this would develop into a rivalry with one of his childhood idols but emphasised it as a one-off clash good enough to let go. He added: “I don’t think we have a rivalry! We just had an incident in the race, and we can just get over it and move forward.”
On the other hand, Alonso refused to speak on the clash after the sprint race, having called Lawson an "idiot" on team radio. When asked what happened later, he said: “Qualifying? What happened in qualifying? Ah, well, because I had the scrubbed set, I was not really into a timed lap, so I didn't want to lose more time.
“And I think it didn't change too much to him. But today, in the sprint, we fought very, very hard. He fought very hard, in my opinion, for 16th, 17th. But you know, nothing we can do.
"And you know, as long as one of the two cars lifts off (the throttle), there is never an accident. So it was my case today. Everyone on track is behaving as he wants, and for me, today was unnecessary. You know, everyone can have different opinions. I'm okay with that. It's 24 races, so you meet somewhere in the journey."
To this, Alonso added “On the straight, I think we nearly crashed, like I did with Lance [Stroll] two years ago, at 300-something [km/h], and then the way he squeezed, out of the corners, you know, to the track limit itself. You know, in lap one out of 11.
“But, as I said, I don't want to make a big thing. There's, of course, no penalty when someone lifts off in 16/17 – that was probably the biggest surprise."
Lawson marked his Formula One return with a points finish after all this incident, taking ninth place at the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Driving for Racing Bulls, the 22-year-old showed maturity beyond his years to manage a 37-lap stint on hard tyres, before pitting and finishing the race on the faster medium compound.
Despite a late threat from Williams’ Franco Colapinto, Lawson drove home to take two vital points, as he bids to impress his Red Bull bosses in the hunt for a 2025 seat.
The result sees Lawson equal his career-best Formula One finish, achieved at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix when he was deputising for the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
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