War of words between Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson continues as the Kiwi calls out the Spaniard for 'mouthing off to the media'

The war of words between Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson has continued into the F1 Italian GP, as the Kiwi called out the Spaniard for the way he conducted himself after the Dutch GP.

The race last weekend saw the two drivers make contact when Sainz was trying to make the move around the outside of Lawson into the first turn. As a part of the rules of engagement for the drivers, if a driver is trying to move around the outside, at the apex, his front axle has to be ahead of the front axle of the car on the inside.

When Carlos Sainz was trying to make a move around the outside of Liam Lawson, his front axle was not ahead at the apex. Hence, the driver was not entitled to space around the outside.

In trying to defend his position, Liam Lawson would move over to the side and end up making contact with Carlos Sainz. The contact ruined both drivers' races, but it was the Spaniard who got the penalty for causing a collision.

Sainz was furious at the penalty, but he also took aim at Liam Lawson as he called out his driving etiquette. Liam Lawson wasn't impressed and rebuked the Spaniard for his comments. As we get ready for the F1 Italian GP, the Kiwi was once again facing the media, where he was questioned if there was a problem between the two drivers, to which Lawson said that there was no such thing.

As quoted by PlanetF1, Lawson criticized Sainz's approach of going to the media instead of him, as he said,

“I mean, no, to me I’m surprised. It’s that on a restart we have cold tyres, hard tyres. We’re all on new tyres after the Safety Car. It’s a naturally difficult corner. We’re all coming in there on lap one. He’s the car going for the overtake around the outside, and he didn’t get his axle where he needed to get it."

He added,

"And somehow I’m deemed as being aggressive. So I don’t really understand it. But it ruined my race. You know, we were in a position to potentially have two cars in the top five, but I didn’t go on the radio and mouth off to everybody about it or to the media. So, yeah, it’s his approach after that race but I don’t know why he was so upset, honestly."

Carlos Sainz is yet to reach out to Liam Lawson

After the race in Zandvoort, Liam Lawson wasn't impressed by the comments that Carlos Sainz had made. The Spaniard had essentially called out the Kiwi's driving standards in multiple interviews. Talking to the media, Lawson revealed that there was no contact from Sainz since the Dutch GP, as the Spaniard hasn't tried to reach out. He said,

“I haven’t heard from him. I would have thought because of how upset he was, he would probably want to talk about it, but he hasn’t. He hasn’t come to talk about it.”

It's interesting to see a rivalry seemingly coz there aren't many key protagonists battling it out against each other on the grid.