This weekend’s Austin GP marked the return of Liam Lawson to the grid. The 22-year-old New Zealander has replaced Daniel Ricciardo in a much-discussed late-season swap at VCARB.
The weekend also saw the return of the sprint format, which left Lawson with only one practice session before heading into Qualifying for the sprint. The 22-year-old did well to avoid getting eliminated in SQ1. In SQ2, however, Lawson, on his fast run, exceeded track limits at turn 1, which resulted in his lap being deleted, forcing him to start Saturday’s sprint race from P15 behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who also got his lap time deleted, in P14.
The duo soon found themselves in a fight for P15 and P16, which would later spark a feud between the battling pair. But what happened?
Lawson was trailing Alonso in the opening stages when he seized an opportunity to overtake the Spaniard by diving down the inside into Turn 11. The move resulted in Alonso leaving the track. The Aston Martin driver tried to fight back ahead of turn 12 but was blocked by Lawson. The defense was repeated on lap 6, and both of them lost position to Esteban Ocon in the Alpine.
For the Aston Martin driver, the moves felt similar to the clash he had with current teammate Lance Stroll at the Austin GP in 2022.
“Well, I think on the straight, we nearly crashed, like I did with Lance two years ago. At 300-something. The way he squeezed out of the corners to the track limits itself in lap 1, out of 11.
“But, as I said, I don’t want to make a big thing. There is, of course, no penalty when someone lifts off in 16th and 17th. That was probably the biggest surprise.”
With 2022 in mind, Alonso appeared unhappy with Lawson fighting so hard, considering their positions, when media asked him after the Qualification for the GP where the two Drivers would also have a moment in Q1 when Alonso also overtook Lawson out of the pits and into Turn 1.
“What happened in qualifying? Ah, well, because I had the scrubbed set [of tyres], so I was not really into a timed lap, so I didn’t want to lose more time,” Alonso commented about their moment.
“Today in the sprint, I think he fought very hard, in my opinion, for 16th and 17th. But, you know, nothing we can do. As long as one of the two cars lifts off, there is never an accident.
“So, it was my case today.”
The Spaniard, clearly not happy with the young New Zealander’s defensive moves, confronted Lawson after the sprint and issued what appeared to be a warning.
“No, not really. But, you know, everyone on track is behaving as he wants. So, for me today, it was unnecessary.
“Everyone can have different opinions. I’m okay with that.[…] It’s 24 races, so you meet somewhere in the journey.”
On the other hand, Lawson didn’t consider his defense against Alonso too hard when the media asked him about the incident.
“I mean, I understand he had a pretty horrible race, so I can understand why he’s upset.
“But if I did anything wrong, I would have got a penalty. So yeah…”
The stewards appeared to side with Lawson, as no penalty was given.
The New Zealander was also questioned about his exchange with Alonso after the race when the latter confronted Lawson about the fight, reportedly implying that retaliation was in the cards.
“Yeah, he said he would screw me and I guess he kept his word. I don’t know, he was really upset.
“I’m not sure why we were racing for P16. 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 move forward.”
When asked if he had considered that he would be in a rivalry with veteran Alonso, Lawson lamented that he didn’t believe their battle was the start of a rivalry but a simple racing incident.
“I don’t think we had a rivalry.
“I think we just had an incident in a race. Hopefully, we can just get over it and move forward.”
For the race, Lawson will start last after having to take a penalty for exchanging engine parts, while Alonso will start the race from P8. Thus, it seems unlikely that the duo will find themselves in another battle this weekend.
