Lawson says Perez still not over 2024 rivalry after Australian GP scrap

Liam Lawson claims Sergio Perez showed he is not over the developments of 2024 after the pair clashed during the Australian Grand Prix.

The two drivers had a number of run-ins when Perez was racing for Red Bull and Lawson was in the junior team towards the end of 2024, before Lawson was promoted to take the Mexican’s place. After a year out, Perez has returned with Cadillac and fought Lawson mid-way through Sunday’s race, with the Kiwi pushed wide at Turn 3 before contact between the pair as Lawson later made it through at Turn 11.

“Two years later he’s not over it!” Lawson said. “He’s fighting me like it’s for the world championship and we are like P16. Obviously I don’t really care too much. My race was already over at that point, so never mind.

“It was nothing illegal, it was just aggressive. There was nothing … honestly, I don’t care because it was for P16.”

Perez dismissed any tension between the two when Lawson’s quotes were put to him, saying he didn’t have the performance to realistically battle with the recovering Racing Bulls car for long.

“For me it was just racing,” Perez said. “It was a bit of fun racing, and that’s really it. I was in a much slower car, so for me it was just trying to race.”

With Cadillac finishing its debut race with one car on Sunday, Perez – who came home three laps behind race-winner George Russell in 16th place – says the team has now truly seen the deficit that it has to try and make up.

“The first step is done as a team,” Perez said. “Completing the race was incredible, it’s a shame that Valtteri couldn’t complete it, but overall it was a great one. A great recovery from a weekend that started with a lot of issues, but I think from now on obviously the honeymoon is over and now it’s all about we need to do big steps forward.

“We need to put a plan in place ASAP for the team to move along and close the gap, which I believe we can do. We are all very competitive inside the team and that’s the attitude that we need for now, to be able to close the gap and aim for something big this year.”