‘This guy f**king sucks’ – Untelevised Lawson radio as new Perez incident emerges

Untelevised team radio from the Australian Grand Prix has revealed the moment Liam Lawson said Sergio Perez “f**king sucks” during their heated battle at Albert Park.

It comes after PlanetF1.com witnessed a minor altercation between the pair in the paddock after the race in Melbourne.

Liam Lawson on Sergio Perez: ‘That guy f**king sucks’

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Lawson and Perez developed a bitter rivalry in 2024 as they battled over a Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen for the following season.

It came to a head at that year’s Mexican Grand Prix, Perez’s home race, where Lawson was seen giving his rival the middle finger on track.

Lawson eventually replaced Perez at Red Bull for 2025, but lasted just two race weekends before being demoted back to the Racing Bulls team.

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His struggles were not lost on Perez, who quipped – inaccurately – last year that Lawson and his successor, Yuki Tsunoda, scored “five points” between them in the second Red Bull seat in 2025.

After sitting out the entirety of last season, Perez has returned to F1 with the new Cadillac team for 2026.

Perez was lapped three times en route to 16th place upon his return at last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, with Lawson coming home 13th after a poor start saw him fall to the back of the field.

The pair were embroiled in a tense battle in the early stages of the race. Untelevised team radio has revealed that Perez asked his race engineer, Carlo Pasetti, to confirm the identity of the driver behind him on two separate occasions as Lawson closed in.

The exchange on Lap 15 went as follows:

Perez: “Who is behind me?”

Pasetti: “He will be fine. He’s still on hards. Replace the steering wheel if everything’s OK.”

Perez: “Who is behind? Who is behind?”

Pasetti: “Behind you is Lawson. Lawson.”

Perez was then seen defending aggressively as Lawson approached, briefly edging the Racing Bulls driver on to the grass on the exit of Turn 11, leaving Lawson unimpressed in an exchange with his race engineer Alexandre Iliopoulos.

Lawson: “Are you seeing this, bro?”

Iliopoulos: “I did see that. You’ll get him, you’ll get him.”

The battle continued with Perez edging Lawson off the track as he rival attempted a move around the outside of Turn 4 a short time later, with Lawson finally competing the pass with a move into Turn 11.

Lawson was again forced to take to the grass as he assumed the inside line on the high-speed approach to Turn 11, with the pair making tyre-to-tyre contact in the braking zone as Perez continued to defend the position.

Lawson: “That guy f**king sucks, bro.”

Perez: “[Laughs] What happened to this guy?”

PlanetF1.com editor Mat Coch, reporting from the Australian Grand Prix, reported that another minor skirmish between Lawson and Perez took place in the paddock after the race.

Lawson was stood waiting to speak during the post-race media sessions when Perez brushed past in the pen, making slight contact with his rival.

Lawson told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets that the heated battle showed Perez is still “not over” losing his Red Bull seat to him in late 2024.

He said: “Two years later, he’s not over it.

“He’s fighting me like it’s for the world championship and we’re P16.

“Obviously I don’t really care too much. My race was already over at that point, so we’ll just move on from it.”

He dismissed the suggestion that Perez’s antics were worthy of a penalty, adding: “It was nothing illegal, he was just aggressive.

“Honestly, I don’t care. It’s for P16.”

Perez added: “For me, it was just racing. It was a bit of fun racing and that’s really it.

“I was in a much slower car, so I think it was just fine to race.”

Additional reporting by Mat Coch

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