Bitter F1 feud revived in Australian GP: 'That guy f****** sucks!''

Liam Lawson and Sergio Perez revived a two-year-old rivalry with a clash in Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The pair were involved in an aggressive battle for 16th place in Melbourne, with Lawson forced wide by Perez at Turn 3 as they nearly came to blows.

Later in the same lap, Lawson was able to barge his way past Perez at Turn 11 with a forceful move.

Racing Bulls driver Lawson was less than impressed with Perez’s driving, complaining: “That guy f***** sucks,” over team radio.

Meanwhile, Perez opened his team radio to say: “Haha! What happened with this guy?”

Lawson was adamant Perez’s robust defence was retaliation for their clash at the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix.

Back then, the pair engaged in a fierce fight as Perez recovered through the field at a time he was battling to save his Red Bull seat, while Lawson was attempting to earn promotion from the sister squad.

Perez, who would go on to be replaced by Lawson at Red Bull for the 2025 season, claimed his rival had the wrong attitude needed to succeed in F1.

Lawson later apologised for giving Perez the middle finger from the cockpit of his car during the race in Mexico.

The Kiwi, who is now back at Racing Bulls, accused Perez of fighting him “like it’s for the world championship”.

"Two years later and he's not over it!" Lawson said. "He's fighting me like it's for the world championship and we are like P16.

“Obviously, I don't really care too much. My race was already over at that point, so never mind.

"It was nothing illegal, it was just aggressive. There was nothing ... Honestly, I don't car because it was for P16.”

Perez made no reference to their past feud as he downplayed the incident on his way to finishing three laps down in 16th for the new Cadillac team. 

"It was a bit of fun racing," the Mexican said. "I was in a much slower car, so for me it was just trying to race.”

Lawson’s race was effectively undone before it really began after he lost power at the start of the race, which dropped him towards the back of the field.

“I had no power," he explained. "I launched and just lost all power.

"I was sitting there and couldn't get it back and then a couple of seconds later I got it back and then got wheelspin.

“I don't know what happened, I didn't have that in testing."