Liam Lawson shares hilarious moment about Yuki Tsunoda after crashing during their junior years 

VCARB drivers Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have been friends since before their time in Formula 1. In a recent interview, the New Zealand-born racer shared a hilarious moment with the Japanese driver from their time together in the junior divisions.

After a brief stint as a substitute driver for Daniel Ricciardo in 2023, Lawson made a comeback to the Formula 1 grid in 2024, replacing the Australian racer. Since his debut in the top open-wheel racing format, the 22-year-old driver has scored three Top-10 finishes (Singapore in 2023, Austin and Brazil in 2024) in his eight F1 races so far. With Sergio Perez rumored to exit Red Bull Racing in 2025, Lawson is likely to fill in for the Mexican racer in the Austrian team.

During a recent interview, the youngster from Hastings, New Zealand shared a funny moment he had with his teammate Tsunoda, after a big crash at Spa in the junior Formula divisions.

"When we used to race... in a practice session or in a quali session, whenever I was in a cool-down lap, Yuki would come past me. And I'd see him come in a mirror so I'd get out of his way. He would always insist on just getting like as close to me as possible. I don't know if he's trying to scare me. And I'm like, what's this kid doing?! And he did this all year!" Lawson said.

"We've been playing each other 'Flick Tennis' on ¡Phones all weekend...We crashed together in Spa (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium). And we crashed in the race like...bad crash for both of us. And I get out of the car, I go to him, and we're both like pissed off. And we didn't say anything. He looked at me, he just goes, 'Flick Tennis?'" he added.

Lawson's aforementioned story was shared on X by a Japanese F1 fan. Here's a look at the post, captioned:

"Sometimes I know Yuki is crazy, but idk know he was that crazy😦"

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"He’s done a very good job" - Liam Lawson praised teammate Yuki Tsunoda after qualifying P3 for the Brazilian Grand Prix

While Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were knocked out in Q2 at Sao Paulo, sister team VCARB's Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson qualified in P3 and P5, respectively.

Lawson praised his teammate for his efforts during the difficult session at the rain-soaked Interlagos circuit in the mandatory media interaction.

"Firstly (I’m) happy for the team, very, very happy. It’s a great position for the afternoon, and congrats to Yuki, he’s done a very good job," Lawson said.

"Personally, I’m frustrated (that) I made a really big mistake and lost a lot of time. Obviously, we all went out there – or most of us went out there – for that one lap and unfortunately, you pay the price for that. But very happy for the team, this is an epic starting position for the afternoon," he added.

As of now, Tsunoda and Lawson are placed 11th and 20th in the 2024 Drivers' table. However, unlike the latter who has run just three races, the former has competed in all 21 Grand Prix so far.