Piastri fires back at FIA after costly Lindblad crash penalty

Oscar Piastri has given his full account of the collision with Arvid Lindblad that cost him a points finish in the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver crossed the line in seventh place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

But a 10-second post-race penalty from the FIA stewards dropped him to 13th, outside the points entirely.

The incident happened on the standing restart after Valtteri Bottas’ heavy crash on Lap 44 had triggered a red flag.

Lindblad, driving for Racing Bulls, had re-passed Piastri on the restart.

Piastri spent 12 laps behind the rookie before seeing an opportunity at Turn 1.

“I tried to go up the inside actually, and then he shut the door very, very late,” Piastri recalled.

“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.”

The stewards determined that Piastri had not claimed the right to the corner.

Under the FIA’s current racing guidelines, a driver must have a significant portion of their car alongside the other to be entitled to racing room.

The stewards ruled that Piastri did not meet that threshold.

Therefore, the onus was on him to avoid contact.

Piastri was asked directly whether he believed his McLaren was far enough alongside to deserve space under those guidelines.

“It’s always tricky,” he replied.

“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 a…”

Piastri’s sentence trailed off, leaving the implication unfinished.

His core argument is that the contact happened not during an aggressive overtake attempt, but while he was already backing out.

He maintains that Lindblad pushed him so far to the left that he had no more room to give, and their wheels interlocked as a result.

The penalty was especially costly because Piastri had already fought back from a disappointing qualifying session.

He started 12th after a shock Q2 exit.

On the first lap alone he gained three positions.

He then passed Franco Colapinto and Lindblad in quick succession before the red flag reset the order.

Had he kept seventh place, he would have scored six points.

Instead, he left Mexico with zero.

The decision also drew attention to the wider context of McLaren’s recent history at this circuit.

Lando Norris, Piastri’s teammate, was booed during the drivers’ parade and again during the podium celebrations after his dominant 2025 victory at the same track.

Sky Sports F1’s Craig Slater noted the reaction during Sunday’s parade.

“It’s interesting who got the boos,” Slater said.

“Mixed boos and cheers, let’s say, for Lando Norris.”

The crowd’s hostility has been linked to lingering unease over how McLaren managed its driver lineup last season.

In Monza 2025, Piastri was instructed to return second place to Norris after a slow pit stop, effectively handing the position back to his teammate.

Norris and Piastri also collided in the Singapore Sprint just last month.

Norris was initially bullish in his response before later expressing regret.

Piastri himself has consistently downplayed the Monza incident, saying he was treated fairly last season.

But the booing in Mexico suggests that a section of the fanbase still disagrees.

Piastri’s own championship challenge this year has not materialized as many expected.

McLaren failed to deliver a car capable of fighting at the front consistently, and Piastri has struggled individually at times.

Kimi Antonelli, driving for Mercedes, won the 2026 drivers’ championship.

Piastri finished 13 points behind Norris in the final 2025 standings, a margin that some observers have pointed to as evidence that the Monza swap was not decisive.

But the emotional memory of that moment has persisted in the stands.

The Lindblad penalty adds another layer to a season already full of friction for Piastri.

He has now lost points in Mexico due to a stewards’ decision that he believes misreads the sequence of events.

The FIA’s racing guidelines have been a recurring topic of debate among drivers this season.

Several drivers have complained that the rules are applied inconsistently from race to race.

The guideline on “right to the corner” is one of the most contested.

It requires the overtaking driver to have a significant portion of their car alongside before the apex.

What counts as “significant” is left to the stewards’ judgment on each incident.

Piastri’s case is unusual because he argues he was not attempting to complete the pass when contact occurred.

He says he was already yielding.

If that account is accepted, the guideline on who had the right to the corner may not even apply.

The stewards did not address that distinction in their written decision.

They simply stated that Piastri had not established the right to the corner and therefore bore responsibility for the contact.