Verstappen and Lawson given grid penalties for Mexico practice collision

Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson were both given one-place grid penalties for an incident in which they collided in Friday practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Verstappen accused Lawson of "not very smart behaviour" and trying to "drive me off the track at the hairpin" as the two disputed the same piece of track during the session.

The four-time champion and the New Zealander clashed in the stadium section towards the end of the lap, with the two cars hitting each other side-on after running through three corners side by side.

Race stewards decided that both had been at fault for the incident and took the unusual step of issuing a sporting penalty for an infringement in practice.

The FIA stewards report said that Verstappen was preparing for a flying lap and Lawson on a "cool-down" lap after a timed lap "preparing for another push lap".

It added: "The drivers of both cars behaved in a manner that was considered unacceptable by the stewards."

It said: "Both drivers admitted the moves were unnecessary and 'clumsy'."

Verstappen, speaking before the stewards' verdict, said: "Maybe not very smart behaviour what he was trying to do there.

"At the end of the day it is not going to change my weekend, but if I were him I would act a little smarter and when you're fighting for your seat it's not very smart behaviour."

Lawson is one of three drivers competing for two seats at Racing Bulls, Red Bull's junior team, next year, alongside current team-mate Arvid Lindblad and Bulgarian Formula 2 front-runner Nikola Tsolov, who drove for Racing Bulls in first practice on Friday.

Verstappen has an influential position within the Red Bull organisation as their star driver.

The Dutchman added: "When he saw me coming, he suddenly started to accelerate. I don't know what was going through his head, that he wanted to drive me off the track in the hairpin.

"That's not very sensible behaviour from someone in his position, to pick a fight with me."

Lawson was Verstappen's team-mate for two races at the start of 2025 before being dropped back down to the Racing Bulls junior team after disappointing performances.

He had a second spell alongside Verstappen for three races this year as a substitute for regular driver Isack Hadjar after the Frenchman broke his wrist. Lawson acquitted himself more effectively on his second time in the senior team.

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane said: "One word - unnecessary. And I say that of both of them. I haven't heard what Max has said. I'm sure he's got his opinions and I'm sure Liam has his opinion. But mine is, it's just not needed and they can both do better."

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc headed McLaren's Lando Norris in the times. Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, who is poised to clinch his first world title on Sunday, was fourth fastest behind team-mate George Russell.

Antonelli's expected coronation is the main event of the weekend - only a victory by Russell or Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton can theoretically stop Antonelli becoming champion on Sunday. Even then, Antonelli only needs ninth place if Russell wins and 10th if Hamilton does.

Leclerc, who topped both sessions on Friday, was 0.103 seconds quicker than Norris, with Russell just 0.003secs further adrift.

Antonelli was 0.217secs off the pace, and ahead of the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.

Leclerc's team-mate Lewis Hamilton was 11th overall after stopping on track with a technical problem before completing his qualifying simulation runs on the soft tyre.

"I was feeling really good in the car," said Hamilton. "It's just my luck.

"We did a really good job of getting the set-up in a better place. It's just really unfortunate. I think we're really competitive this weekend as a team and then didn't get to do the long run so I have no idea. It's really difficult to overtake here."

Russell said: "Ferrari are looking strongest at the moment, Leclerc didn't properly finish his lap. Lewis has the issue. We expected on this sort of circuit for them to perform best but Q3 as it stands can go any way."

Behind Hadjar, Racing Bulls duo Arvid Lindblad and Lawson sandwiched Pierre Gasly's Alpine, while McLaren's Oscar Piastri completed the top 10.

On the race-simulation runs later in the session, Leclerc again appeared to be the fastest, but the top four teams were all very closely matched and there looked to be little to choose between the soft and medium tyres.

The runs suggested a one-stop is the most likely strategy on Sunday and overtaking will be difficult because of the challenge of staying close to another car when overheating is such a challenge in the thin air at the 2,200m altitude of Mexico City.

The first session was marked by 10 of the 11 teams running 'rookie' drivers in their cars.

One of them was Cadillac's Colton Herta, who the team are considering promoting to a race seat in place of Valtteri Bottas next season.

Initially, the team felt his running in Mexico had given him enough points under the F1 system to earn a 'superlicence', which is required to race in F1.

But further investigation by governing body the FIA revealed the American nine-time Indycar race winner is still one point short and will have to complete one further practice session this year to secure his licence.

The team plan to do that before the end of the season at one of the forthcoming races.