Oscar Piastri accepts penalty after Arvid Lindblad collision

Oscar Piastri accepted the penalty he received after colliding with Arvid Lindblad at the Mexico City Grand Prix, while arguing that the driving guidelines could be adjusted for the circuit’s opening corners. The Australian acknowledged that the rules supported the decision, but said applying them becomes difficult through the closely linked sequence.

Piastri tried to go around the outside of Lindblad at Turn 1, aiming to get the inside line for Turn 2. Both drivers held their lines. Lindblad’s left-rear wheel then made contact with Piastri’s front right. Lindblad’s Racing Bulls was launched into the air, hit the wall on the exit and could not continue the race.

“Looking at the guidelines, it’s quite hard to argue against the penalty,” Piastri said. He qualified his view when discussing that section of the circuit: “But I think that set of corners in Mexico is where the guidelines are very tricky to enforce.” He said each corner and sequence has its own characteristics, adding that a driver is left in a difficult position when cutting the track is the only way to avoid an incident.

Piastri also described a contest in which, in his view, both drivers had grounds to defend their position. “It’s a difficult one. Arvid was very robust. Looking at the guidelines, he had the right to defend; I also had the right to try to make the move stick, until the point where I tried to back out and we collided,” he explained.

After 19 of 23 rounds of the 2026 season, Piastri was seventh in the drivers’ standings on 144 points, without a win. Arvid Lindblad was 11th on 38 points, also without a win. McLaren stood fourth in the constructors’ championship with 365 points, 265 behind Mercedes, with four rounds left to race.

Looking ahead to the São Paulo Grand Prix, Piastri said he hoped for a “cleaner” weekend as McLaren sought to regain third in the constructors’ championship from Red Bull. He also said the team had new parts for its car and that his main aim was to work on improving its behaviour, rather than trying to force a result.