Liam Lawson insists his attitude to racing in Formula 1 will not change and he does not believe the Red Bull hierarchy will call for him to alter his approach despite his incident with Sergio Perez at the Mexico Grand Prix.
Lawson, in his second race since his promotion to the RB team, apologised to Perez for showing him the middle finger during their intense battle in Mexico City.
The New Zealander came to blows with his rival on lap 19 at Turn 4 where, after being pushed wide as the Red Bull attempted an overtake, he kept his foot in and the pair then collided at the following right-hander.
While the Mexican managed to stay ahead for the rest of the lap, he eventually lost out as the RB breezed past him on the main straight.
In his frustration at the situation, Lawson showed Perez the finger as he overtook – a moment that was captured on television.
He may have apologised for the gesture, but Lawson is not about to change his aggressive nature when battling on the track.
“My attitude towards racing and how I approach races in Formula 1 won't change, that's how I'll always be,” he said.
“But at the same time there's things in there, if I make mistakes I'll always learn from them, and clearly in Mexico I made a mistake, and I'll learn from it.
“Briefly we spoke after the race, but at the same time we left the track very early, immediately afterwards anyway. I think it was an on-track fight and I apologise obviously for what I did after the incident.
“But in terms of the fight we had on track, it was, I guess, deemed as a racing incident and something that was an in-the-moment battle.
“I'll learn from, maybe, mistakes that I made. But at the same time, I'll take advice from everybody I can and my target is not to go out and make enemies with anybody, that's not the goal obviously, but at the same time I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to win.”
Speaking after the incident in Mexico, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko said it was an “unnecessary collision” and that he saw “Lawson as being more to blame”.
Lawson could still find himself at the senior Red Bull team next year should they opt to drop an underperforming Perez.
He is certainly in contention should the shuffle occur, with current RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda heading for his first drive of a Red Bull at the Abu Dhabi test while team principal Christian Horner has also hinted the team could be tempted to make a move for Franco Colapinto – who has impressed for Williams but currently does not have a race seat in 2025.
Asked if he had spoken to Marko and Horner since the scrap with Perez, Lawson replied: “I don't think they want me to race differently.
“But obviously the target is not to make contact with another Red Bull car, and as I said at the time it wasn't my intention in the moment, and looking back maybe I could have avoided it and clearly that would have been the right thing to do at the time.”
