A late run-in with Argentine Franco Colapinto has denied Liam Lawson a chance at points at the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix.
In an eventful second grand prix of the season for the 22-year-old, Lawson also had a battle with Red Bull Racing stablemate Sergio Perez, finishing 16th in Mexico City on Sunday (Monday NZ Time), a lap down on the winner, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr.
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Lawson was in position for points before Williams' Colapinto clipped his front wing on the exit of turn two on lap 68 of 71 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, dropping him to the back of the grid after a second pit-stop.
He got back on track and made a late pass on hometown hero Perez, who he is battling with for a spot alongside Max Verstappen on Red Bull's main team for 2025.
As he went by Perez on the front straight, Lawson flipped him the middle finger, which will not ingratiate himself with Mexican and Red Bull Formula 1 fans. It suggests the internal competition at Red Bull is intense.
Lawson had the better of Perez all weekend, as pressure mounts on the struggling 34-year-old. The Kiwi was faster in practice and outqualified Perez, who started 18th.
Lawson started 12th on hard tyres but moved up as high as fourth and down as low as 17th as he was on an alternate pit-stop strategy, finishing on the quicker medium tyres.
He was fortunate to avoid a major incident before the first corner that saw his RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda out of the race entirely.
Tsunoda and Williams’ Alex Albon made contact heading into turn one, ending both drivers’ races early and triggering a safety car. However, the pair’s misfortune resulted in Lawson climbing from 12th to 10th and into points contention early.
Lawson and Perez also came wheel to wheel in the battle for 10th on lap 18, with the Kiwi emerging ahead, prompting Perez to exclaim "what the f*** is this idiot doing!" over the team radio.
Perez pitting on lap 22 brought an early end to the battle with Lawson, but when Verstappen was hit by another 10-second penalty, the Kiwi loomed as potentially Red Bull’s best car at the chequered flag.
After getting to fourth position when the cars on the two-stop strategy went to pit-lane, Lawson slowly moved back to eighth on older tyres before finally pitting on lap 40 and dropping further to 17th.
As other drivers made their final stops, Lawson rose to 12th, and as the threat of rain loomed, Colapinto intervened with an attempted pass on the outside.
Lawson set the fastest lap of 1 minute 19.502 seconds on lap 67, only to be bettered by Perez on lap 70 and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who finished third behind McLaren's Lando Norris, on the final lap.
The F1 season, which has four grands prix and two sprint races remaining, continues with the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos next weekend.