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'He is not Max Verstappen': Montoya critical of Lawson after Perez clash
Liam Lawson and Sergio Perez clashed during last weekend's Mexican Grand Prix. When Lawson overtook the Red Bull driver, he raised his middle finger at him. Perez, as a result, was angry in his post-race interviews. Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya was critical of the Kiwi's actions.
As a result of the clash between Lawson and Perez, the latter sustained damage to his RB20. This meant the Mexican fell back during his home race and finished 17th and last of the running drivers, whilst Lawson could only finish one place higher.
Montoya critical of Lawson's actions
Montoya, the seven-time Formula 1 race winner, gave his verdict on Lawson's actions, telling InstantCasino.com: "Lawson is trying to prove a point and show that he thinks he is way better than Checo whilst being in a worse car. Checo has been waiting and trying to pass him without doing anything. Lawson does not understand that you are not racing in F3 and that there are a lot of major elements in play, and that he could have been one of the causes why Red Bull loses the constructors’ championship."
The Colombian continued: "Checo was on his way to score points despite the five-second penalty at the start and he didn’t. Part of the reason he didn’t was because Lawson ran into him. It’s all well and good being aggressive and making his life difficult but Lawson needs to learn when to give up. He is not driving touring cars and you’re not Max [Verstappen]. He couldn’t get away with things like that."
Montoya also had an idea of how Red Bull's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko would look at the incident. "Helmut [Marko] wants drivers to be aggressive and that’s what he is looking for in the young guys but you can’t behave like that. You can’t do things like that. If you’re winning races you can but when you’re down the grid, he needs to finish races and get points. When you’re a driver you don’t understand how important the Constructors’ championship is. Liam was just trying to prove how good he is because he wants the seat [at Red Bull Racing]."
This article was written in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut.
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