Oscar Piastri has lost his points finish in the Mexican Grand Prix after the stewards penalised him for a collision.
The McLaren driver tangled with Arvid Lindblad while trying to overtake the Racing Bulls driver. The stewards issued the McLaren driver a 10-second time penalty which drops him from seventh place to 15th.The stewards ruled Piastri was not entitled to be given racing room when he tried to pass Lindblad on the outside of the corner and could have avoided the collision.
“On the approach to turn one the driver of car 81 [Piastri] attempted an overtake on the outside of car 41 [Lindblad],” the stewards explained. “Car 81 was never fully alongside car 41 so was not able to claim the right to the corner.
“Through turn one, the driver of car 41 defended his position by releasing the brakes however [did] not force car 81 off the track, allowing racing room on the outside – which he is not required to do.
“The stewards determined that the collision could have been avoided if the driver of car 81 had moved further to the left after turn one, even if this involved leaving the track prior to turn two.”
Speaking before the stewards issued their decision Piastri said there was little he could have done to avoid the contact.
“I obviously need to look back at it more,” he said, “but from in the car, I went to go up the inside of turn one Arvid moved very late and so I kind of ended up on the outside because I was avoiding him. And then from that point onwards, I tried to go around the outside.
“He pushed me pretty wide and I was trying to back out and you where we made contact was well before the corner actually happened. So from my side of things I really didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
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