Liam Lawson 'takes responsibility' for critical error after Racing Bulls fightback

Liam Lawson has taken responsibility for the qualifying error which led to his disqualification from Mexico City GP qualifying after "a lot was going through my head."

Lawson had qualified eighth on the road in Mexico, but was then shuffled back one place for his penalty due to the FP2 incident with Max Verstappen.

However, just after completing his Q2 lap, he did not lift off the throttle in time, meaning his power unit exceeded the maximum power rampdown limit - leading to a straightforward technical disqualification.

From the pit-lane after engine part changes, Lawson rallied back to ninth place on the road to originally score two points for Racing Bulls - as he continues to await a decision on whether he will keep his seat for 2027.

However, a 10-second time penalty for Oscar Piastri demoted the Australian out of the points and the New Zealander up to eighth, before Franco Colapinto received a 10-second penalty for ignoring blue flags, meaning Lawson was classified seventh - from the pit-lane - and took his points tally for the year to 83 with a third six-point haul in the last four races.

"I think we should have got one more [place] at the end; there was a gap there, and I didn't go for it, which I should have," Lawson told media, including RacingNews365 of his final lap and an attempted move on Colapinto, who finished 0.695s ahead before his penalty.

"But ultimately, it was a good race to come from where we started in the pit lane, and the first part of the race just didn't go our way; we didn't box under the VSC, and then we boxed the lap before the safety car.

"So it was a tough race up until the restart, and then we had a good restart, a good lap one, but it is frustrating as on the first lap [after the restart], I had my dash go to VSC for a split second, so I backed off. 

"Then it went away, so I lost one or two spots, which is just frustrating when you're in a race to have your dash do that, but it is a tough race, but a good result from where we started.

Then pushed on his qualifying error which ultimately led to his disqualification from the session, Lawson took responsibility after a "long weekend", including the Max Verstappen incident in FP2.

"It has been a long weekend, honestly," he said.

"There was a lot going through my head [on Saturday], and I was a split-second too late lifting off, and obviously it is very punishing.

"So I take responsibility on that, and it meant we started from the pit-lane, and it probably cost us maybe a place on track."

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Lawson vs Gasly

Turning to his late duel with Gasly, Lawson explained that his rival was not "generous" in ceding the position back with the incident briefly under investigation.

"It surprised me, he just locked up and went off into Turn 1," Lawson said.

"Then he rejoined, so I said he had to give the place back. We touched wheel and he wasn't very generous giving the place back, but I got it back."