Piastri’s points stripped after being slapped with penalty for crash
Updated . First published
Kimi Antonelli was crowned the youngest drivers’ champion in Formula 1 history in Mexico, but his historic milestone was overshadowed by a crash-marred race that left Oscar Piastri copping a penalty and losing the points he earned for crossing the line seventh after the chequered flag.
Desperate to move up the order in the closing laps, Piastri slid deep down the inside of Arvid Lindblad, tagging the Racing Bulls’ driver and sending him into the wall.
Oscar Piastri tags Arvid Lindblad. Fox
The stewards concluded the Aussie was at fault for forcing Lindblad to retire from the race and handed Piastri a 10-second time penalty to be added to his finishing place - meaning he fell out of the points to 15th place.
The Aussie was therefore stripped of the six points he appeared to have earned in Mexico.
“I tried to go up the inside and then (Lindbald) shut the door extremely late so I ended up on the outside as a result of that,” Piastri said of the collision.
“Then I was pretty close to (Lindblad) alongside and then obviously, pushed me pretty wide and at that point - I knew I was never going to overtake into turn two.
“But he’d pushed me so far wide that our wheels were interlocked and I couldn’t crash before he even turned for the corner, so for me I think it’s just one of those incidents.
“Lucky that we could continue with the damage we had because it was pretty big.
“Hard day’s work.”
The McLaren driver’s afternoon was already on the back foot following a slow pit stop that dropped him behind George Russell - who was carrying his own 10-second penalty for a lap-one tangle with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar.
The stewards named Piastri wholly responsible for the tangle and “causing a collision”.
“On the approach to turn one, the driver of car 81 (Piastri) attempted an overtake on the outside of car 41 (Lindblad). Car 81 was never fully alongside car 41 so was not able to claim the right to the corner,” the stewards wrote in their decision.
“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.”
The drama at the Mexico City Grand Prix ignited immediately on lap one when Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton collided while battling for the lead.
Hamilton fumed over the team radio after Leclerc was handed a mere five-second penalty while still being permitted to inherit the lead of the race.
The ruling left the Monégasque driver pushing to build enough of a gap to cover his penalty, while Hamilton was relegated to third with Max Verstappen wedged between them.
Max Verstappen tops the podium, alongside Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli. AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
“We discussed in the drivers’ briefing, we discussed that if you go off in turn one, you give the position back. Last year, I got a 10-second penalty for that same thing he did,” Hamilton said after the race.
“Ultimately, it was that that cost us the win today. I think we have to have serious talks behind the scenes, for sure - but the good thing is the team are working hard on the car.”
Verstappen eventually claimed the race victory, in a race that was interrupted by a 40-minute red flag.
Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas’ sudden suspension failure caused him to careen heavily into the turn one barriers. The heavy impact forced officials to perform frantic barrier repairs, while Bottas limped away from the wreckage and headed straight to the medical centre.
