Liam Lawson dismisses ‘angry’ Yuki Tsunoda after qualifying complaint

Liam Lawson dismissed an ‘angry’ Yuki Tsunoda after the Japanese driver took issue following an on-track encounter during qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.

Both Tsunoda and Lawson were eliminated from the session in Qualifying 2 with the Red Bull driver suggesting his former teammate cost him a chance of progressing.

Yuki Tsunoda left frustrated after Liam Lawson encounter

Tsunoda will line up 13th for the race with his best lap just over a tenth slower than Lawson’s, who will start one place higher.

During Qualifying 2, the pair encountered one another at Turn 11, with Tsunoda on a hot lap while Lawson was not.

That prompted an angry radio outburst from the Japanese driver, accusing Lawson of “disturbing me on purpose.”

“It is what it is,” Tsunoda told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media following the session. “I saw he was going very, very slow until [Turn] 11, kind of waiting for me in the middle of the corner.

“Until then, I had enough pace to go through to Q3 and lost everything from that, so very frustrating.”

It was Tsunoda’s second gripe of the weekend with Lawson, having encountered the Racing Bulls pilot during Sprint Qualifying on Friday.

Tsunoda ultimately missed the cut in SQ1 when he ran out of time to start his final flying lap – his path to the line hampered by a number of others on track, Lawson among them.

But even that was not the first time Tsunoda has taken issue with his Kiwi stablemate, revealing the pair spoke following the Italian Grand Prix. Tsunoda confirmed that he intends to raise the issue once more.

“I’ll mention it,” he confirmed.

“We talked it out I think since Monza or whatever. But it’s always like that. I have to always be careful.”

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The saga left Lawson bemused, claiming he had been unaware of Tsunoda during the session.

“Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what he has to complain about,” he said.

“I don’t really remember being in front of him in qualifying today. So, yeah, he’s obviously angry; he can be angry, but it doesn’t bother me.”

While Tsunoda suggested it was Lawson who cost him a shot at progressing to Qualifying 3, the Kiwi was left rueing his own misfortune.

Having boasted pace to run in the top 10 during the Sprint earlier in the day, where he finished ninth, the Racing Bulls driver lamented a gust of wind as he opened his final lap in Qualifying 2.

“It’s a shame we got a really big gust of wind at Turn 1 and it’s really upset the car,” he said.

“It’s just come at a really bad time, so it’s frustrating.

“If this was the best we had, OK, I would have been obviously reasonably happy, but to have a very quick car this weekend and not extract it is frustrating.”

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

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