Sergio Perez doubles down on F1 nationality bias after Liam Lawson leaves Mexican GP scot-free

Sergio Perez criticized the FIA for repeated incidents by Liam Lawson and imposing penalties based on drivers' nationalities.

Sergio Perez doubles down on F1 nationality bias after Liam Lawson leaves Mexican GP scot-free

Sergio Perez (via IMAGO)

The Mexican GP didn’t turn out to be a positive weekend for Sergio Perez and Red Bull. Perez, being Mexican, had promised to win in front of his home crowd as it was his childhood dream.

However, it seemed nothing was going in his favor from the practice sessions to the main race. He encountered various challenges that hindered his performance and one came from the sister team’s driver Liam Lawson.

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Liam Lawson and Perez had a heated encounter on the track. The Mexican tried to overtake the new Zealander at Turn 4, but in the process, pushed him off the track. The Kiwi driver quickly rejoined and kept battling, leading to more contact between the two.

Sergio Perez felt Lawson’s aggressive moves throughout the race were too much and deserved a penalty However, the stewards disagreed and didn’t issue any penalty to the 22-year-old as, according to Checo, more experienced drivers often receive more lenient treatment compared to younger, less experienced drivers.

He took the whole side of the car off, but I don’t think it’s his fault because he doesn’t get any penalty. He did the same to Fernando [Alonso] last weekend, he did the same to Franco [Colapinto] at the end of the race with no penalty, so maybe it depends who you are [in terms of] the penalty you get.

Sergio Perez said, as reported by MotorSport.com

Sergio Perez explained that a similar incident happened at the US GP when Lawson didn’t give space to Fernando Alonso or Franco Colapinto. Alonso was frustrated and voiced his anger over the team radio, but the stewards ignored the situation, giving Lawson no penalty.

Sergio Perez slams Liam Lawson for unnecessary attack towards him

Sergio Perez felt that Lawson was just being careless and driving aggressively for no reason. It was on turn 4 that he entered the track aggressively, nearly causing a crash to Perez.

Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez (via IMAGO)

Checo avoided a big collision by creating space, but the incident still harmed both their races. This forced the Mexican to end up in 17th place as he had no pace after damaging his car during the duel.

I think he could have avoided the incident but he just went back. Luckily I saw him and I opened the room otherwise it would have been a massive crash. There was no need. We damaged both of our races. It was a little bit too much.

Sergio Perez explained

Helmut Marko also blamed Lawson, stating he should’ve avoided battling the sister team, as they’re struggling for points. Because of this, Checo couldn’t score points, causing Red Bull to drop to third position in the Constructors’ Championship.