That said, the Mexico City Grand Prix ended in disaster for Arvid Lindblad, with the Racing Bulls driver crashing out in the closing stages following a collision with none other than Oscar Piastri (yes, that Oscar Piastri). The F1 rookie had spent much of the 71-lap race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circulating in the points, having jumped ahead of Piastri for P7 following a mid-race restart after a red flag.
The pair put on a show, battling fiercely over several laps with the McLaren driver stuck behind the Racing Bulls car for over 10 laps. The boiling point arrived on Lap 58 when Piastri moved to the outside into Turn 1, making contact with the left-rear of Lindblad's machine. The hit sent Lindblad airborne and straight into the wall on the exit of Turn 2, ending his afternoon and earning Piastri a 10-second post-race penalty.
"I don't want to properly comment on it until I've seen all the footage," Lindblad stated immediately afterwards. "But in the end, the pace was good, we were in a genuine fight with him. 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."
Despite failing to score for the third race in succession, the weekend brought clear positives for the young driver. Having lost confidence and rhythm over the summer following crashes in Madrid and Baku, Lindblad admitted he had struggled to hustle the car and put it on the limit in recent rounds. Happily, the race pace in Mexico felt strong, convincing him that he is back in his mojo and looking ahead to Brazil.
Meanwhile, team mate Liam Lawson delivered a stunning recovery on the other side of the Racing Bulls garage. Starting from the pit lane after a disqualification in Qualifying for a technical infringement, the New Zealander crossed the line P10 on-the-road before benefiting significantly from the post-race shuffle.
Lawson's race was far from straightforward. "It was a tough race. The first part was a big struggle for us, we missed the VSC, didn't box, and then we boxed for our second stop the lap before the Safety Car, so it was just really unlucky and lost a lot of race time," he explained. The red flag ultimately threw him a lifeline, allowing a restart from P15 to attack as much as possible.
When the dust settled, Piastri's 10-second penalty combined with penalties for Alpine drivers Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly promoted Lawson all the way up to seventh place in a chaotic conclusion to the weekend.
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