01/11/2024
NEWS STORY
Though he has no intention of being less aggressive, Liam Lawson admits that lessons have been learned from Mexico.
The New Zealander was criticised by Sergio Perez initially for a collision early in the race which left the Mexican with damage, and subsequently giving the Red Bull driver the middle finger when passing him later in the afternoon.
Speaking in Brazil, Lawson revealed that in the aftermath of the race he had spoken to both Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.
"I don't think they want me to race differently," he said, "but obviously the target is not to make contact with another Red Bull car.
"As I said at the time, it wasn't my intention in the moment," he added. "But looking back, maybe I could have avoided it. And clearly that would have been the right thing to do at the time."
Asked if he will continue to be as aggressive, he said: "That won't change... that attitude towards racing and how I approach races in Formula 1 won't change, that's how I'll always be.
"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.
"Looking back, maybe there were things I could have done differently," he said of the clash with Perez in Turn 5, "I could have cut the chicane and avoided it completely. But in the moment I'm racing as well, you have a split second to make this decision.
"So it's something I've spoken to the team about and I've reflected on and I'll learn from going into this weekend."
Asked if has spoken to Perez, he said: "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 apologised for what I did after the incident. But in terms of the fight we had on track, it was deemed as a racing incident and something that was an in the moment battle.
"My target is not to go out and make enemies with anybody, that's not the goal," insisted the kiwi, who subsequently clashed with Franco Colapinto. "But at the same time I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to win. That won't change."