Fernando Alonso's Threatening Words to Rookie Liam Lawson Revealed After US Grand Prix Clash

Saajan Jogia | Oct 20, 2024

Oct 18, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team driver Fernando Alonso (14) of Team Spain walks through the paddock area before practice for the 2024 US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

VCARB driver Liam Lawson, who enters his first Grand Prix of the season at the Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix, opened up on the altercation with Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso after the sprint race, where Alonso threatened to "scr*w" him.

In the 19-lap sprint on Saturday morning, Lawson unsettled Alonso while trying to pass the Aston Martin driver. The two-time champion voiced his frustration, believing Lawson's attempt could have resulted in a collision. The duo clashed again during the USGP qualifying session when Alonso, exiting the pit lane, overtook Lawson at Turn 1, thereby compromising Lawson's lap time. Revealing the threat Alonso made, Lawson told the media:

“I don’t know, he said he would scr*w me, and I guess he kept his word.

“He was really upset, I’m not sure why. We were racing for P16 and I don’t know why he was so upset. Yeah, I don’t know. It is what it is. Hopefully he can get over it and we’ll move forward.

“Just out of the box playing games. It is what it is, it’s part of it - it doesn’t bother me.

“I understand he had a pretty horrible race so I can understand why he’s upset. But if I did anything wrong I’d have got a penalty. So, yeah…”

When asked, Lawson didn't think this would develop into a rivalry but emphasized it was a one-off clash good enough to let go. He added:

“I don’t think we have a rivalry! We just had an incident in the race, and we can just get over it and move forward.”

Alonso, on the other hand, refused to speak on the clash after the sprint race, having called Lawson an "idiot" on team radio. When asked what happened later, he said:

“Qualifying? What happened in qualifying? Ah, well, because I had the scrubbed set, I was not really into a timed lap, so I didn't want to lose more time.

“And I think it didn't change too much to him. But today, in the sprint, we fought very, very hard. He fought very hard, in my opinion, for 16th, 17th. But you know, nothing we can do.

"And you know, as long as one of the two cars lifts off, there is never an accident. So it was my case today.

“Everyone on track is behaving as he wants, and for me, today was unnecessary. You know, everyone can have different opinions. I'm okay with that. It's 24 races, so you meet somewhere in the journey."

Alonso added to the on-track tussle:

“On the straight, I think we nearly crashed, like I did with Lance [Stroll] two years ago, at 300-something [km/h], and then the way he squeezed, out of the corners, you know, to the track limit itself. You know, in lap one out of 11.

"But as I said, I don't want to make a big thing. There's, of course, no penalty when someone lifts off in 16/17 – that was probably the biggest surprise."

The two-time world champion then refused to answer anything on the matter, saying, "If you want to ask anything about qualifying, okay, you know this thing isn't very important."