Lawson recounts tense 2019 season, unveiling Tsunoda’s risky tactics that led to their costly Macau incident.
Liam Lawson recounted how he and Yuki Tsunoda, now teammates at RB F1, first got to know each other in 2019 as young Red Bull Academy recruits. The New Zealander reveals that he had issues with Tsunoda, who, back then, seemed intent on intimidating him.
“Yuki used to do this thing in our first year as teammates, which was in 2019,” Lawson explained. “In FIA F3, we weren’t together, but we did Euroformula Open at the same time, and we were teammates there. I got to know him well.”
“All year, during a practice or qualifying session, every time I did a cooldown lap, Yuki would pull ahead of me and always made a point of getting as close as possible. I don’t know if he was trying to scare me or what. He did it all year.”
This tactic proved costly for both drivers in Macau, where Tsunoda clipped Lawson and ended up crashing into the barriers: “We went to Macau, which is insane, very bumpy, and it’s hard to believe we race there.”
“Helmut [Marko] calls us both and says, ‘Whatever you do, don’t crash in the first session because you need track time to prepare for qualifying. Don’t crash!’”
“The very first lap I do, I finish, I cool down, and I see Yuki in my mirror. I try to get out of his way, but I hit a brick wall.”
“As he passes me, he clips my front wheel, goes airborne, and heads straight into the barrier. The gearbox came off the back, destroyed the car. He also broke my front suspension, which took me out of the session.”
“I remember thinking, ‘I know exactly what you did.’ No one else knows. Everyone thinks we had a small clumsy crash. But I know what he did. I know he tried to get close and obviously hit a damn bump because it’s Macau and misjudged it.”
Another memory from that day makes Lawson sure Tsunoda did it on purpose: “I saw him in the elevator that night. I remember the elevator doors opening, the first time I saw him, and he was standing there, and I looked at him. He smiled, and I instantly knew he knew exactly what he’d done.”
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Tsunoda’s Close Calls: Lawson Reflects on Tense 2019 Macau Race Tsunoda’s Close Calls: Lawson Reflects on Tense 2019 Macau Race
