Piastri out of F1 Mexico GP points after post-race penalty for Lindblad clash

Oscar Piastri has been penalised by the stewards for sending Arvid Lindblad into the wall

Oscar Piastri’s tough Mexico Grand Prix weekend has ended in point-less fashion, after the McLaren Formula 1 driver copped a penalty for his collision with Arvid Lindblad.

Piastri’s 60-strong streak of Q3 appearances (including sprints) ended at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as he qualified a lowly 12th, which paved the way for his troubles in the midfield.

Piastri did gain three spots at the start, subsequently overtaking Franco Colapinto and Lindblad to grab seventh place. The Australian led the rookie by 13 seconds when Valtteri Bottas crashed out, but the subsequent safety car and standing start reduced that gap to next to nothing – and Lindblad actually moved ahead at lights out.

Piastri pressured his rival for 12 laps before attacking him around the outside in Turn 1; now on the inside line for Turn 2, he didn’t back off early enough and hit the Racing Bulls’ rear-left wheel with his front-right. Lindblad ended up in the wall.

“I tried to go up the inside actually, and then he shut the door very, very late,” the McLaren man recounted. “So I had to kind of avoid him and end up on the outside.

“I tried from there, and obviously he pushed me pretty wide, and at that point I knew I was not going to completely overtake. So I was trying to get out, but he pushed me so far wide that I couldn't go any further left, and we just interlocked wheels, and that was the end result, of course.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

Asked if he was far enough alongside that he should have been given racing room based on driving guidelines, Piastri responded: “It's always tricky. I was very close to alongside, and I was kind of there because I was avoiding a crash in the first place.

“A tricky one, but I think when we actually made contact, we were both going straight. It wasn't like I tried to stick my nose into Turn 2 and stuck my nose where I shouldn't. I was trying to concede the position, and I was already off the track, so I couldn't really do much more than that.”

Meanwhile, Lindblad wouldn’t comment on the incident, having not been able to watch a replay, but still made his thoughts clear: “In the end, we were fast, I was in a genuine race with him, he was stuck behind me for over 10 laps. I was committed for racing for the position, and I wasn't just going to let him easily drive around the outside of me.”

The FIA’s stewards took a dim view of Piastri’s driving, handing him a 10-second penalty that dropped him from seventh to outside the points-scoring positions.

“On the approach to Turn 1, the driver of Car 81 attempted an overtake on the outside of Car 41,” the stewards’ report read. “Car 81 was never fully alongside Car 41 so was not able to claim the right to the corner. 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.”