Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix delivered plenty of drama, but one incident involving the same team went completely unpunished in a decision that leaves you scratching your head. As The Race reports, the stewards surprisingly dismissed the intra-team Racing Bulls collision that took down Liam Lawson as needing no further action.
While Franco Colapinto picked up a 10-second time penalty (which converts into a five-place grid drop for the Malaysian Grand Prix) for spearing into Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren's Lando Norris, the stewards chose to let the chaos behind go entirely unpenalized. Esteban Ocon and Lawson were side-by-side in the Turn 1 braking zone when the sister car arrived. That is when Lindblad locked his brakes and slammed directly into Lawson, punching a massive hole in the floor and destroying his race.
Remarkably, the incident was noted, placed under investigation, and dismissed as needing no further action within just 20 minutes of occurring. Lawson was diplomatic about it after finishing the race, noting, “Great for the team [Lindblad went on to finish seventh], yeah, obviously I'm not going to go and protest my team-mate - but I don't understand it because I got hit so hard that it put a hole in my floor.” He added, “I was just turning for the corner, giving the guy space. So where I'm sitting, I don't understand, but let's say it's great for the team.”
Lindblad apologized to Racing Bulls and Lawson for the shunt, pointing to two major mitigating circumstances. He described the safety car restart as an absolute mess, complaining that the field wasn't properly bunched up and that the cars had repeatedly accelerated and braked on the straight. According to Lindblad, this left batteries out of a good window, tyres cold, and brakes cold. He also claimed he was trying to make a move on Ocon, who he alleged moved under braking at the last minute, forcing him to take avoiding action that locked his front tyres and collected Lawson.
Yet the stewards' official reasoning revealed they excused Lindblad because they viewed the contact as a direct consequence of the Colapinto, Gasly, and Norris shunt ahead. Their decision stated that the incident triggered a braking reaction among the cars immediately ahead of Lindblad, and that he was caught in a tight squeeze between cars. Ultimately, they determined the contact resulted from restricted space and a chain reaction rather than any error for which Lindblad was wholly or predominantly to blame.
That explanation feels mighty generous when you look at the footage, especially since the crash ahead happened far enough up the road that Ocon and Lawson did not appear to initiate meaningful avoiding action before the impact. While unwritten rules regarding team-mates often temper these decisions, what colour the cars are really shouldn't factor into it when a machine is taken out by a misjudged move.
