Lawson apologises to Gasly after scary car-tipping crash at Miami GP

What looked like a certain penalty for Lawson was avoided after the FIA stewards revealed their verdict, explaining upon review that "the in-car data and telemetry and confirmed that there was clearly a gearbox failure just before the incident in question. The radio communications were also consistent with the fact that there was a gearbox failure."

Both drivers subsequently were out of the race, but thankfully neither had been harmed, with Lawson explaining his side of the incident in the post-race media sessions. He said: "Yeah, I went to brake for the last corner and when I hit the brakes, we had a gearbox failure and I went straight to neutral and I couldn't downshift or slow the car down. So it's a shame, it's obviously taken out Pierre, which is not good, they were having a great weekend and it's retired us as well."

The Kiwi also revealed he had no feeling whatsoever that the gearbox was in trouble, adding "absolutely zero, it just failed in that moment." Lawson had actually been pretty fortunate to avoid an earlier end to his race following Max Verstappen's spin on the opening lap at Turn 2, with the former Red Bull driver taking avoiding action, and actually gaining some positions.

The Racing Bulls man, however, was not feeling particularly lucky given a lack of pace. He said: “I wasn't really thinking about luck at that point. I was just trying to survive the first lap and we weren't quick enough in general. The first couple of laps I already knew we had quite a bad balance and we were trying to chase it. It wasn't enough and obviously a gearbox failure is what's retired us anyway."

Nonetheless, Lawson was also asked on whether he had been able to speak with Gasly following the incident. The 24-year-old responded: "Yeah, I went and saw them to apologise, obviously they've had a great weekend. I just wanted to explain to them that I wasn't intentionally trying to push the braking like that, I just had no gearbox and no brakes."

Alpine's Gasly shared his side of the story with regard to the dramatic accident, explaining the scary moment he had when his A526 flipped onto the TecPro barrier. He said: “I was luckily fine. I must say quite scared because I was in the air without any control and I think I came in the wall rear end first so I didn't even know where I was going to land so it wasn't pleasant.