Liam Lawson said he was simply trying not to get in the way after Max Verstappen criticized both him and Arvid Lindblad during the Hungarian Grand Prix, where a temporary failure of the circuit's marshalling system made blue-flag calls harder to read than usual.
The incident came during a race in which the usual illuminated blue-flag panels were unavailable, leaving drivers to rely on manual flags, mirrors, dashboard information and radio guidance. That made the situation more complicated for cars being lapped, or for drivers trying to avoid disrupting the leaders while traffic was building through the field.
What Lawson and Lindblad said
Lindblad said the system issue was not ideal, but he believed the drivers in the middle of the traffic had some tools to work with. “It's not too difficult, because we have the virtual mirror so we know the car in front and behind, and we can see the gaps, and we have mirrors, which makes it a bit easier,” he said. “I think it's more for the cars that were coming through, that it was just a bit of a shame, maybe. But yeah, it wasn't ideal.”
He added that on lap seven he saw blue flags for Checo, even though “it was lap seven, so he can't be that far back.” Lindblad also said the numbers were never shown, only a blue flag, which he called “not the most useful message,” before adding that his team helped guide him and he watched his deltas on the dash to avoid affecting the leaders' race as much as possible.
Lawson gave a similar account, saying, “I was just trying not to get in the way and be too much involved.” He added, “I wasn't getting lapped, so I didn't have to let them go, but I didn't expect him to go by.”
Verstappen's pass and Lawson's reaction
The Verstappen moment came later in the Hungarian Grand Prix, when Lawson was running directly behind Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen swept past both cars in one move while trying to protect second place from Hamilton. Verstappen's radio frustration followed, but Lawson said the pass itself was impressive.
“Obviously, I saw the late lunge. It ended up costing me so much time behind them, which at the time was a bit stressful, but it was a good move. It was a very Max move,” Lawson said.
For Lawson and Lindblad, the bigger issue was the confusion created by the temporary marshalling failure. In a race where blue-flag awareness was already more difficult than usual, both drivers said they were trying to use the information they had and stay clear of the front-running fight.
For more on Lawson's recent race-day warning and eighth-place finish behind Hadjar, see Liam Lawson gets warning, keeps eighth place at Hadjar.
