He may have had to wait patiently for his chance at a Formula One drive, but Liam Lawson seems intent upon making up for lost time and making friends is not part of the plan.
You’ve got to hand it to the latest Kiwi to feature in motorsport’s most storied class, he appears to have zero damns to give.
In his first race last weekend, Fernando Alonso — the most experienced driver on the circuit — took umbrage with Lawson’s tactics during the sprint event. Lawson had dived inside the veteran on the first lap of the race, leading Alonso to claim over team radio: "Man, that AlphaTauri is such an idiot."
Alonso was so incensed by the nerve of the kid that he couldn’t bring himself to use his name — or even the current name of his team.
Lawson came back at Alonso with a straight bat, suggesting if he had done anything wrong, he would have conceded a penalty. The fact no penalty resulted was essentially evidence enough for Lawson that he was in the clear.
The subtext to this: Alonso was simply acting like a big babymanchild.
So there.
Lawson duly went on to claim points in the main race, a rather staggering achievement, as he started from 19th on the grid. That left increasingly sulky teammate Yuki Tsunoda (the pair were once roomies) lost for answers and probably feeling a little unloved.
After Lawson rejoined the race in front of Tsunoda from pit-lane, the Japanese driver was clearly put out.
"I don’t understand how that happened," were the exact words over team radio.
For those not up to speed with the ego code of the F1 world, that statement could be best translated as: "How did you let that happen?"
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Tsunoda may have also thought Lawson was an idiot — or that his team were idiots — but he left that unsaid, which is a shame, because a clear pattern was developing.
Things took an even spicier turn over the weekend, when Tsunoda crashed in qualifying, denying Lawson his flying lap and a chance at advancing to the third round of qualifying (Q3).
Lawson was clearly frustrated by the accident and may have thought Tsunoda was an idiot. Even more so, considering Tsunoda had been given an upgraded package for the Mexican Grand Prix.
Tsunoda would also crash out of the grand prix, while Lawson continued to pick fights with as many drivers as possible. It takes a certain kind of chutzpah to go after the bloke whose seat you covet at his home Grand Prix, but that’s’ exactly what Liam Lawson showed when he picked a fight with the underfire Sergio Perez and effectively ended his podium hopes.
Perez and Lawson had come together on the 18th lap in a battle for 10th, when Lawson took an aggressive line into turn five and Perez was bumped off the track.
Perez was clearly flustered.
"What the f*** is this idiot doing?" he asked his engineer over the team radio.
The engineer seemed not to have an answer, but now it was clear more than one driver thought Liam Lawson was an idiot.
The incident damaged the floor of Perez’s Red Bull, which meant he could do little more than nurse the car for the rest of the race. Lawson would pit to have a front wing replaced and would then pass the hobbled Perez, flipping him the bird as he did so.
That is a stone-cold throwdown and hardly a tactic employed by any run-of-the-mill idiot.
If Liam Lawson is, indeed, an idiot, he is a ruthless idiot. Too ruthless for Perez, as it turns out.
The Mexican driver would go on to question Liam Lawson’s attitude and humility, claiming he showed no respect for Fernando Alonso after the US Grand Prix.
"When two-time world champions was saying things last weekend, he completely ignored him.
“I don’t think he’s showing the right attitude to show a good case for himself, because I think he’s a great driver, and I hope for him that he can step back and learn from him."
Perez forgot to mention that he also thinks Liam Lawson is an idiot.
Lawson showed admirable contrition on the whole finger-pulling business, which at least proved he’s human.
"It’s not in my character and I shouldn’t have done it," he told reporters after the race.
He also claimed that Perez "spent half the lap blocking me, trying to ruin my race, so I was upset".
Let’s face it, most of us have pulled the finger during a daily commute and our careers (mostly) don’t depend on the result of our drive.
We’d be upset too, if someone called us an idiot and then proceeded to behave idiotically.
For the record, Carlos Sainz won the race and Lawson finished 16th, after a prang with Franco Colapinto.
The circus now moves to Brazil, where the ambitious Lawson has another chance to be called an idiot.
His Racing Bulls team seem happy with where he is at. Let’s just hope his attitude and humility are good enough for Alonso and Perez.
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