FIA launches Verstappen and Lawson investigation after Mexican GP incident
Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen collided in Mexico FP2
Both Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson have been summoned to see the FIA stewards following Friday practice at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The former Red Bull teammates were involved in a bizarre collision which triggered a red flag during FP2 with debris left on the track.
Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson under FIA investigation
Heading into the stadium section during the second hour of practice, Verstappen, in the Red Bull, pulled a move down the inside of Lawson in the junior Racing Bulls car.
Lawson held his ground going into Turn 13, as Verstappen waved a hand of frustration in the direction of the New Zealander.
The Dutchman was shown the edge of the track, and as he came back over the kerb and onto the circuit, the pair made contact.
While the damage inflicted was not too extensive, Lawson did require a change of front wing, while Verstappen’s bargeboard had seen better days.
The incident instigated a brief red flag so that marshals could clear the debris coming out of T13.
The clash was noted by the FIA stewards, who upgraded that to a post-session investigation, summoning both Verstappen and Lawson as part of that.
Sky F1 analyst Bernie Collins, McLaren’s former lead performance engineer and the ex-Aston Martin strategy chief, believes that both drivers will reflect on that incident as one which was not worth it.
She said: “From a pit wall, from a car, from a driver side, in an [F]P2 session to lose any component is the worst thing that can happen for you really, or is quite negative for the rest of your weekend. We don’t know how many spares the teams have at this stage of the season.
“I think both drivers probably, in the coolness of the debrief, will regret their decisions.
“It’s not clear to me at the minute whether Verstappen was on a push lap, but then he’s run the rest of the session with this damage on that front bargeboard, which will have lost him performance and will have affected the future runs and the learning that they take into the rest of the weekend.
“Both drivers had an opportunity to do something different there, and I think both drivers will think, was that corner really worth that. It wasn’t.”
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Verstappen ultimately ended FP2 in fifth place, three-tenths off the pace of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who completed the Friday double of topping both FP1 and FP2.
Verstappen is in contention to secure a runner-up spot in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
As for Lawson, he ended Friday in P9, a little over half a tenth shy of Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad.
Racing Bulls is yet to confirm its F1 2027 line-up, with Lawson, Lindblad and Nikola Tsolov – who appeared for the team in FP1 – all in contention for the two seats.
Read next – Mexican GP: Verstappen and Lawson clash, Hamilton stops, Leclerc tops FP2
