Liam Lawson: “I don’t understand” Why Arvid Lindblad Escaped Penalty After Wrecking His Floor

Lawson challenges Azerbaijan GP stewards’ decision

Liam Lawson said he “doesn’t understand” why Azerbaijan Grand Prix stewards took no further action against Racing Bulls team-mate Arvid Lindblad after Lindblad spun him around during the Formula 1 race in Baku.

Following Alexander Albon’s crash on lap 30, a safety car grouped the field before the restart. Lawson and Lindblad were running 12th and 14th respectively. When racing resumed, Franco Colapinto locked up heavily and eliminated both Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren driver Lando Norris.

At the same time, Lindblad braked later than Lawson and Esteban Ocon ahead of him. The rookie was caught between the two cars and made contact with the sister Racing Bulls machine, sending Lawson into a spin and damaging the floor of his car.

The stewards attributed the collision to “the restricted space available to [Lindblad] and the chain reaction caused by the incident ahead”. Lawson, who had not yet reviewed the incident when he first spoke to the media, said he did not agree with the outcome.

“Coming into Turn 1, I had massive boost lag and I didn’t have any power, so Esteban was next to me,” the New Zealander recounted. “I tried to give him space and then I just got hit from my left so hard that it put a hole on the floor, and we couldn’t really fight after that. I don’t really know what happened.

“I’ve always tried to keep clear, and it’s been obviously aggressive at points this year, but… I don’t know, going into Turn 1 there to try and fit through the middle of two cars like that, I don’t think it was ever really going to happen.”

Lawson says the contact ended his race

Asked whether the stewards’ decision benefited Racing Bulls as a team more than it benefited him, Lawson said he would not protest against his own team-mate but remained puzzled by the ruling.

“Great for the team. 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. I was just turning for the corner, giving the guy space. From where I’m sitting I don’t understand, but let’s say it’s great for the team.”

Lindblad apologised to Lawson as soon as he had the opportunity. Speaking in the media pen, however, he partly attributed the incident to Ocon moving under braking, a claim the available footage does not corroborate.

“From where we were, me and Esteban, we’d gone about three times on the straight, we’d sort of gone and braked and gone again, so it was complete chaos, the battery wasn’t in a good window because of that,” the rookie said.

“And then everyone braked a little bit too late in Turn 1, and I was going to make the move on Esteban and he moved in the last minute, basically moved under braking, so I had to take avoiding action, which meant I locked the front slightly and I hit Liam.

“I said ‘I’m sorry’ on the radio, but in the end it’s not intentional. If you watch the video back you can see there’s nothing intentional about what I do. The stewards said ‘no further action’, which obviously I’m happy about, but in the end, I don’t know what you want me to do. If we’re all on the limit, we all brake very late, and the guy in front of me moves in the last second… There were many incidents. There was nothing I could do, and it is what it is.”

Racing Bulls gains ground on Alpine

Lindblad said Racing Bulls had told him, ‘We can see there’s not much you could have done’, although he still expected to “get a little bit told off” over the collision.

Despite Lawson’s damage, the incident produced a valuable result for the Faenza-based team. Lindblad recovered to finish seventh after taking the position from Ocon by 0.03 seconds. Alpine failed to score after Colapinto’s error, creating a theoretical 13-point swing in the teams’ battle for fifth place in the constructors’ championship. Racing Bulls now leads Alpine by 15 points.

“On the positive, we scored points as a team. We got very, very lucky today that Alpine didn’t, honestly,” Lawson admitted. “We didn’t have [their] speed.”

Lindblad agreed that Racing Bulls had benefited from the outcome after a difficult weekend, including one of the team’s first failures of the season to progress beyond Q1.

“We take the result, in a sense, because we’ve struggled a lot this weekend, it’s been one of the first times this season we’ve struggled to get out of Q1,” Lindblad concurred. “So to be best of the rest and scoring massive points is absolutely amazing. It’s not been an easy weekend, but points are scored on Sunday.”

Why This Matters

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix result strengthened Racing Bulls’ position in its constructors’ championship fight with Alpine. Although Lawson lost the chance to compete for a stronger result after the contact, Lindblad’s seventh-place finish and Alpine’s failure to score delivered a significant team advantage.

The stewards’ decision also leaves the disagreement over responsibility centered on the interpretation of the crowded Turn 1 restart. Lawson focused on the damage caused by Lindblad’s contact, while Lindblad argued that late braking, limited space and the traffic ahead left him with few options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why was Arvid Lindblad not penalized?

The stewards said the collision resulted from “the restricted space available to [Lindblad] and the chain reaction caused by the incident ahead”, and therefore took no further action.

What happened to Liam Lawson’s car?

Lindblad’s contact sent Lawson into a spin and caused a hole in the floor of his Racing Bulls car, preventing him from fighting effectively after the incident.

How did the result affect Racing Bulls and Alpine?

Arvid Lindblad finished seventh, while Alpine scored no points after Franco Colapinto’s crash eliminated Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris. Racing Bulls moved 15 points ahead of Alpine in the constructors’ championship battle for fifth place.