Liam Lawson has taken responsibility for the contact with Ollie Bearman in the Spanish Grand Prix during their fierce battle.
The battle between Bearman and Lawson was the highlight of a rather drab Barcelona race up until the late safety car, with Bearman just about managing to stay ahead of the Racing Bulls driver.
During one incident at Turn 1, Lawson clipped Bearman, forcing the Haas driver to take to the run-off, and as per the overtaking guidelines, was not entitled to space as his front wing was not alongside the mirror of the Haas.
Bearman cut through the Turn 1 run-off, but given the circumstances, no further action was taken against Lawson, as Bearman was still ahead at the apex.
However, a few laps later, Bearman took to the run-off when Lawson was in an overtaking position, cut the corner and maintained the position.
For this, the stewards handed the Briton a 10-second penalty. Reflecting, Lawson understood Bearman's aggression and took responsibility for the first contact.
"It feels wasted, honestly, because the car was so fast, we were really fast in the long run," Lawson reflected to media, including RacingNews365.
"We caught him at a second per lap, and as much as the contact was completely on me, the lap afterwards, he was still fighting me super hard.
"But we're here to race, so there is nothing I can do about it, but for sure, we both lost a lot of race-time like this."
For his part, Bearman, who was classified 17th and last following the 10-second penalty, having finished just 1.5s behind Lawson on the road, felt hard done by.
"I mean it was a tight battle," the Haas driver explained.
"I feel hard done by being given a penalty as I feel like I was totally pushed off, but I need to go and have a look."
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