Silly, inexcusable and needless. They are a few words you could use to describe the crash between Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen during the second practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The aggravating factor was that Lawson and Verstappen are on the same team (the broader Red Bull stable) even if they are not literally team-mates. Lawson did, however, have two races alongside the Dutchman at the start of 2024 and for three rounds in the middle of this season.

Naturally, all driver-on-driver crashes in practice are unnecessary because nothing is at stake, unlike in qualifying or in a grand prix. This, combined with the dynamic above, is what makes it inexcusable. That applies to both drivers.

Both cars were preparing for push laps as they approached the tight and tricky stadium section in second practice. Lawson could have backed out when Verstappen tried to overtake around the outside into the chicane, but why should he yield?

Verstappen is one of those drivers in the mould of Ayrton Senna – when you see him coming, you get out of the way, especially if you are on his team. Lawson has shown before that he will stand his ground. His feisty battle with Sergio Pérez in Mexico two years ago would surely have worked in his favour for his promotion to Red Bull for 2025.

Back to the track and Verstappen, after being pushed wide by Lawson, decided to escalate the incident rather than merely settling for a moment of frustration or an expletive-laden radio message to his team, as others might.

Backing off would have been the sensible thing to have done even if, at that point, Verstappen might have felt like he was the wronged party. Instead, the cars collided, carbon fibre was strewn across the track and the session had to be stopped.

Verstappen had no choice in his upcoming hot lap being ruined, but he had a choice to avoid a coming-together. The stewards thought that neither driver was blameless and gave each a one-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race for the “clumsy” move, as both men described it.

More aggravating though, were Verstappen’s comments in his post-session interview. As is his way, he let the full extent of his feelings be known and showed no remorse.

“I don’t think it’s called unlucky. Maybe not very smart behaviour, what he was trying to do there,” the Dutchman said of the incident. “At the end of the day it’s not going to change my weekend. If I would be him I would act a little bit smarter, also when you are fighting for your seat it’s not very smart behaviour.”

It looked as though Verstappen was throwing his weight around on and off the track, with Lawson the target. Verstappen holds as much sway within Red Bull as any driver has at any team in recent times. When you consider his talent and achievements, that is understandable. But should he consider a more reasonable and responsible approach?

There is a spate of insults being thrown around on the grid at the moment. Lando Norris’s explicit scolding of Franco Colapinto for their crash in Baku and Fernando Alonso’s implicit criticism of Alexander Albon for an incident last week in Austin are two examples.

Verstappen did, though, hit on a truth. Although he is not fighting for anything that will change his life or even his season, Lawson is fighting for his seat and future in F1. Clashing with Red Bull’s No 1 driver in this manner will only harm his chances of continuing at Racing Bulls in 2027, whoever was to blame. It is not as simple as Verstappen taking the role of hiring manager for the three other Red Bull seats, but any tension across the two teams could become a problem.

Verstappen is one of F1’s greatest-ever drivers, whilst Lawson has been shunted and shifted around the Red Bull stable during his four seasons. He has, though, put together by far his strongest season of his career, enough for seventh in the standings on 77 points – the highest-ranked driver outside Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

Nikola Tsolov, who is a candidate to replace Lawson, put in an impressive showing in FP1 on Friday, finishing just shy of Arvid Lindblad in the other Racing Bulls. Lawson should not be vulnerable given his performances, but the Racing Bulls/Red Bull production line does not operate like the other teams. It would be unjust were Lawson to lose his seat for 2027, particularly in the light of Friday’s crash with Verstappen. Were it to happen, though, Lawson might regret not letting Verstappen through, as many others have done, as galling as that may have been.