Liam Lawson jokes Sergio Perez ‘two years later, not over it’ after on-track battle resumes

Liam Lawson joked that two years later Sergio Perez was “not over it” after the two drivers resumed their battle on track.

A couple of seasons on from their last battle, Lawson and Perez were again occupying each other’s wing mirrors with a back-and-forth tussle late on in Australia.

Liam Lawson renews feud with Sergio Perez

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Tension between Lawson and Perez first emerged in 2024 when the young New Zealander was seen as the prime contender for Perez’s Red Bull seat, a prediction that ultimately came true.

It was at Perez’s home race that year when the two made contact, resulting in Lawson giving Perez the finger as he passed him, an action he later apologised for.

Now, with Perez back on the grid with Cadillac, the two were again at it in Australia and the Mexican was noted by the stewards for pushing Lawson off track although was ultimately cleared.

Asked about the incident, Lawson joked that Perez was still thinking about the 2024 Mexico GP.

“Two years later he’s not over it,” Lawson said. “He’s fighting me like it’s for the world championship and we’re P16 – so, yeah.

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

Perez meanwhile said it was “just racing” as he looked to draw a line under it.

As for Lawson, it was a disappointing day all round as his poor start saw him plummet down the order and out of contention for the points.

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The 24-year-old said he felt like he was fighting to conserve energy the whole way round.

“Just sort of fighting issues throughout the race, trying to manage energy,” he said.

“So it’s something to review, but definitely not a clean day. Even after the start through the race, we were fighting issues.

“Just lost all power, and I was sitting there, couldn’t, couldn’t get it back, and then a couple of seconds later, I got it back, and then got wheel spin, but yeah, just, I don’t know what happened. I haven’t had that in testing. I’m always sad about these races after qualifying. What did you make of the actual racing we saw some battles with check over time.

“Honestly it’s not super fun to drive in the race, just constantly managing energy, running out of energy, slowing down at the end of every straight. It’s, it’s, it can be pretty painful.”

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