Arvid Lindblad and Oscar Piastri offered their perspectives on their collision at the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP. The Brit and Aussie came together on Lap 59 approaching Turn 2 when the two of them were fighting for 7th place.
On the second standing start, the rookie got ahead of car #81 and was relatively comfortable in holding P7 for just over 10 laps. Then, it all went wrong
”Not much to say” according to Lindblad
The Racing Bulls driver briefly addressed the collision, stating that he was committed to fighting for the position and was not going to make it easy for Piastri to overtake him. He was ahead at the Turn 1 apex, and it meant Lindblad could take the line he wanted.
”Not much to say, I mean I haven’t seen it back fully yet so I can’t comment. But in the end we were fast, I was in a genuine race with him, he was stuck behind me for over 10 laps. I was committed for racing for the position and I wasn’t just going to let him easily drive around the outside of me.”
Piastri already trying to avoid separate crash
The McLaren driver also shared his perspective in greater detail, explaining that he initially attempted to overtake on the inside before being forced to take a different line as the Brit moved quite late in the Turn 1 braking zone.
Ultimately, as Piastri tried to go around the outside, the door was getting shut. The right front tyre of his car made contact with the left rear of Lindblad’s, sending the 19-year-old into the wall as he had a broken suspension.
”I think the incident with Arvid, I tried to go up the inside actually and then he shut the door very, very late. So I had to kind of avoid him and end up on the outside and tried from there and obviously pushed me pretty wide and at that point I knew I was not going to complete the 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 were just interlocked with wheels. Yeah, that was the end result.
”I mean, I think it’s always tricky, I was very close to alongside and I was kind of there because I was avoiding a crash in the first place. So 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 two and stuck my nose where I shouldn’t. I was trying to concede the position and I was already off the track so I couldn’t really do much more.”
The stewards ultimately deemed Piastri responsible for the collision, handing the McLaren driver a post race 10-second time penalty. As a result, he dropped from 7th to 13th in the final classification.
