The former teammates found themselves in the spotlight again after Tsunoda claimed Lawson had “disturbed me on purpose” and “slowed down like hell in corners” during Q2 on Saturday.

Both drivers were eliminated from the session, with Lawson set to start 12th and Tsunoda 13th for Sunday’s race.

Tsunoda was furious over what he believed was interference through Turn 11, telling media afterwards that Lawson had been “going very, very slow in Turn 11, kind of waiting for me, middle of the corner.”

He added that the incident ruined a lap that he felt was strong enough to reach Q3.

It marked the second time in as many days that Tsunoda had taken issue with the Kiwi, having also criticised him during sprint qualifying on Friday after the pair jostled for track position.

 

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Tsunoda later suggested he would “mention it” to Lawson, recalling that they had previously spoken about similar situations earlier in the season.

Lawson, however, was unfazed by the renewed complaints.

“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. He’s obviously angry, he can be angry, but it doesn’t bother me.”

Instead, the Racing Bulls driver was more frustrated by missing out on a Q3 berth after a gust of wind disrupted his final flying lap.

“Overall it was very, very strong,” Lawson said of his qualifying performance.

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

“It’s just come at a really bad time. So it’s frustrating.”

Lawson, who finished ninth in the earlier sprint race, remains confident he can move forward in Sunday’s grand prix.

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

“Hopefully we can try and move forward in the race.”

Tsunoda also felt he had the pace to reach Q3 but was left fuming that his chances were undone.

“I had enough pace to go through to Q3 and I lost everything from that [incident with Lawson], so it was very frustrating,” he said.