Featured Image Credit: Formula 1
Topics: Formula 1
Ryan Smart
F1 fans were left stunned at what Liam Lawson did as he overtook Sergio Perez during the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Red Bull's Perez suffered a nightmare home race, receiving a penalty for a false start before suffering significant sidepod and underfloor damage after a collision with Lawson.
The Mexican finished 17th and last in the final classification, with doubts emerging over whether he will even finish the season following comments from team principal Christian Horner post-race.
The crash with Lawson was a flashpoint in the race, with the two drivers believing the other was to blame.
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And Lawson, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB last weekend but is tipped to take Perez's seat at Red Bull next year, made his feelings on the incident perfectly clear when re-overtaking Perez later on.
As he drove past him at around 200mph on lap 18, Lawson leaned out of his car and made a hand gesture towards the Mexican driver.
Take a look below.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Perez was highly critical of the New Zealander after the race - though Lawson did apologise for the gesture.
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The RB driver said: "I was obviously in the moment upset. He blocked me for half-a-lap to obviously try and ruin my race.
"But honestly, I shouldn't have done it, and I apologise because it's not something we should do. It was in the moment, but it's not an excuse."
Lawson was involved in more drama towards the end of the race when he collided with Williams driver Franco Colapinto.
The 22-year-old needed to pit for a new front wing and finished the race in 16th - only one position ahead of Perez.
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The race was won by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, with McLaren's Lando Norris in second and Charles Leclerc in third.
Championship leader Max Verstappen, whose lead over Norris has been cut to 47 points - finished down in sixth after receiving two 10-second time penalties - and two penalty points on his licence - for incidents with Norris on lap eight.