Oscar Piastri has lost his points finish in Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix as a punishment for his collision with Arvid Lindblad.
The McLaren and Racing Bulls came together at the first corner when Piastri tried to take seventh from Lindblad, firing the Racing Bulls briefly into the air and then into the barriers, while Piastri brought his battered car home seventh still.
Both drivers were called to the stewards after the race, where Piastri was given a 10-second time penalty that dropped him to 15th in the final results.
“Car 81 [Piastri] was never fully alongside car 41 [Lindblad] so was not able to claim the right to the corner,” said the stewards’ verdict.
“Through Turn 1, the driver of car 41 defended his position by releasing the brakes, however does not force car 81 off the track, allowing racing room on the outside – which he is not required to do.
“The stewards determined that the collision could have been avoided if the driver of car 81 had moved further to the left after Turn 1, even if this involved leaving the track prior to Turn 2.”
Piastri had been adamant Lindblad was to blame.
“I tried to go up the inside and then he shut the door very, very late, so I had to avoid him and end up on the outside,” he said.
“So, I tried from there and obviously he pushed me pretty wide, and at that point I knew I wasn’t going to complete the overtake, so I was trying to get out.
“But he pushed me so far wide, I couldn’t go any further left and we interlocked wheels and that was the end result unfortunately.”
Lindblad didn’t want to comment on the incident in detail during his media commitments until he had seen the footage of the incident.
Ironically Piastri being punished hurts Lindblad’s Racing Bulls team slightly more in its battle with Alpine for fifth in the constructors’ championship as the results shuffle means Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly now take a combined eight points for seventh and ninth while Racing Bulls only gets four for Liam Lawson’s eighth place – though Racing Bulls is still 29 points clear.
The Piastri penalty also means Audi gets a point as Gabriel Bortoleto moves up to 10th.
