Lawson apologises to Verstappen after Mexico clash as Button backs his F1 future

Liam Lawson has apologised to Max Verstappen after their second-practice collision at the Mexico City Grand Prix, compounding a damaging weekend for the Racing Bulls driver. Contact at Turn 14 damaged both cars, triggered a red flag and gave each a one-place grid penalty. Lawson cleared the air with Verstappen before Saturday running.

Why it matters:

The incident arrives with Lawson’s Racing Bulls future unresolved. Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov, second in F2, ran Lawson’s car in FP1 as part of the team’s evaluation, so a messy weekend could complicate the picture.

The details:

• Lawson called the contact “not ideal” and apologised because “what happened doesn’t need to happen” again.
• He was then disqualified from qualifying for a technical breach, having qualified eighth before the penalty dropped him to ninth.
• Jenson Button backed Lawson over Tsolov, citing consistency: “They know what they’re getting with Liam, whereas with Tsolov, they don’t.”
• Button noted Tsolov’s F2 promise but his inconsistency, adding that if Racing Bulls need points now, “Liam’s your guy.”

What’s next:

Racing Bulls must weigh Lawson’s proven reliability against Tsolov’s upside. Lawson’s task is to recover from Mexico and remind the team why his steady scoring matters in a tight midfield fight.