The FIA told F1 Team Principals to ‘calm down’ their drivers ahead of the FP2 clash between Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson in Mexico.
The Mexico City GP weekend has been anything but calm thus far. From Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson brawling in FP2 to Esteban Ocon being replaced by Ryo Hirakawa, F1 has brought the chaos.
The incident between Verstappen and Lawson came at Turn 14 of FP2 when the Dutchman rejoined the track and made contact with Lawson’s front wing. The four-time World Champion expected the Racing Bulls driver to move out of the way and let him pass, however, Lawson had no intention of moving.
Following the incident, both drivers received a one-place grid penalty and a penalty point. As Lawson was later disqualified from qualifying due to a technical breach, he will start the race from the back of the grid regardless.
On Sky Sports F1, Karun Chandhok discussed the incident and deemed it “unnecessary”.
“Now we heard his [Verstappen’s] engineer telling him to get ahead of Liam, to get track position ahead of Liam… So that’s what Max is trying to do,” Chandhok explained.
“When they get down to this hairpin, Liam has clearly decided he’s in no mood to let Max pass. So he comes back down the inside… And I think this has annoyed Max because he thought, ‘Well, I’m now in front. You should get out of the way.’ Max opts to go beyond the edge of the track… and then sort of just barges into Liam as they come through the right-hander.
“So, the whole thing, in my opinion, just feels a bit unnecessary and a bit clumsy for FP2.”
A direct warning before the practice sessions
Moreover, Chandhok stated that the stewards had warned the Team Principals of all 11 teams to “ask your drivers to behave in Free Practice” that same morning.
Driver behaviour was widely discussed this weekend, especially after Haas driver Ocon allegedly had a disagreement with the team that led to the Frenchman being asked to stand down for the remainder of the weekend. While the team has not confirmed exactly what took place, they did reveal that the decision to remove Ocon was not due to illness.
“I get that in Esteban Ocon’s situation, you’re trying to get information, you’re trying to do the learning, but there’s got to be a time and place for this level of aggression,” Chandhok continued.
“Now, the reason I should point out why they have been penalised. Because in the past we’ve seen drivers not be penalised for free practice incidents.
“But [on Friday] morning, all of the team managers, 11 team managers, were in a meeting with the stewards, who told them, ‘Ask your drivers to behave in free practice.’
“We’ve seen a few too many incidents in the recent races; we saw Leclerc and George, for example, in Austin, and the stewards have said, ‘Look, we’re going to start penalising people if they don’t behave in free practice.’ And I think that’s why both of these drivers have got that one-place penalty. And really, they both played a part in the way that played out. Although you could say, Max went off the track and barged into him there…”
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