Liam Lawson joins Verstappen criticism in untelevised Miami GP team radio

Liam Lawson says he was surprised to be instructed to swap positions with Max Verstappen during the Miami Grand Prix after the Red Bull “drove into the side of me.”

It comes after Carlos Sainz, the Williams driver, was also heard taking issue with Verstappen’s aggressive tactics in Florida.

Liam Lawson: Max Verstappen ‘drove into the side of me’

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Verstappen started second in Miami but lost several places at the start following a 360-degree spin at Turn 2.

His forceful overtaking manoueveres in nis recovery drive drew the ire of a number of rivals including Sainz, who was heard remarking over team radio: “He pushed me off. He thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he’s racing in the midfield.”

Lawson also had a scuffle with Verstappen, with the pair banging wheels and running off the track at Turn 11 as the Red Bull launched a move down the inside on the opening lap.

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The Racing Bulls driver went on to retire on Lap 6 after a sudden gearbox failure led to him making contact with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.

Untelevised team radio footage from Miami has revealed how Lawson was frustrated to be asked by his race engineer, Alexandre Iliopoulos, to hand the position back to Verstappen after initially staying ahead.

Lawson was heard saying in the aftermath of the collision with Verstappen: “I don’t know what Max was doing there, bro.”

A short time later, Iliopolous instructed his driver to hand the position to the Red Bull. The full exchange went as follows:

Iliopoulos: “Liam, we need to give the position back to Max. We need to give the position back to Max. 1.3 behind. Do it as soon as possible.”

Lawson: “Drove into the side of me. I don’t understand.”

Iliopoulos: “Albon behind.”

Speaking after his retirement, Lawson admitted that he was not expecting to be forced to hand the position to Verstappen after both cars went off track at Turn 11.

Put to him that Verstappen wasn’t taking any prisoners in his recovery drive, Lawson told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “No.

“I didn’t think I had to give the place back but apparently I did, so I did. It’s close racing.

“I wasn’t really going to be fighting today anyway. At that point I didn’t know, but I think a couple of laps after that I realised we had not a very good balance.

“So it would have been hard to stay in the top 10, but obviously I think we could have done that today and scored at least a couple points.”

Asked if he felt luck was not on his side in Miami, Lawson said: “I wasn’t really thinking about luck at that point. I was just trying to survive the first lap.

“We weren’t quick enough in general. The first couple laps, I already knew we had quite a bad balance.

“We were trying to chase it, but it wasn’t enough and obviously the gearbox failure is what retired us anyway.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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