Arvid Lindblad reflects after collision with Oscar Piastri ends Mexico City Grand Prix

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad said he and Oscar Piastri were “in a genuine fight” during a late battle that ended Lindblad’s Mexico City Grand Prix when a collision sent him into the wall at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Lindblad’s comments came after he failed to finish Sunday’s 71-lap race following the incident.

Lindblad had been running in the points for much of the race. After a mid-race restart following a red flag, the Racing Bulls driver improved to P7 ahead of Piastri before the two drivers battled over several laps in the closing segment.

According to Lindblad’s account, the clash came when Piastri moved to the outside of Lindblad into Turn 1 on Lap 58. Lindblad said he had been locked in a prolonged fight for the position and did not want to give up the spot easily as the McLaren driver challenged.

The contact—reported as left-rear contact between the cars—sent Lindblad into the air. He then crashed into the wall on the exit of Turn 2, ending his race. Piastri was later handed a 10-second penalty after the race for the incident.

Lindblad said he did not want to comment fully until he had reviewed all available footage, but added that the pace and competitiveness justified his willingness to defend. “But in the end, the pace was good, we were in a genuine fight with him,” Lindblad said. “He was stuck behind me for over 10 laps. I was committed to fighting for that position and I wasn't just going to let him drive around the outside of me easily.”

While the collision prevented him from scoring, Lindblad framed the weekend as an important step after a period in which he lost confidence. He said that after crashes including in Madrid and Baku, he felt he struggled to keep his “rhythm” and was less able to push the car right to the limit.

The Racing Bulls driver said he could do “okay in Qualifying” but that the race had been showing more of the issues in recent rounds. He described Mexico City as a return to being “myself,” adding that he believed the race pace had been stronger than in the prior few races, which he identified as an area of weakness.

Lindblad’s team-mate Liam Lawson finished P10 on the road, but the result was reshaped by penalties and promotions after the race. Lawson had started from the pit lane following a disqualification in Qualifying for a technical infringement, then benefited from Piastri’s penalty and additional position changes involving drivers Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly.

Lawson described the race as difficult in its early phase, saying the team missed a VSC and that it did not box as expected. He said the timing of their second stop, which came on the lap before the Safety Car, left them losing “a lot of race time,” before the red flag gave them a chance to recover.

After the interruption, Lawson said he restarted from P15 and then pushed hard to make up ground. “Then obviously the red flag helped us, we got a restart from P15 and then I just tried to attack as much as possible. It's a good recovery for us,” Lawson added, positioning the result as a bounce back after a poor start to the race day.

Lindblad, meanwhile, said he is looking ahead to the next round in Brazil after a weekend where he credited improved race pace but will now focus on the collision outcome and the footage review before drawing further conclusions from the Mexico City incident.