Lindblad cleared after Baku restart clash with Lawson
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 26, 2026
Lindblad cleared by stewards
Formula 1 stewards cleared Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad after his collision with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson in the Turn 1 restart in Baku, ruling that no driver was predominantly to blame. The officials described it as a typical first-corner restart incident and said Lindblad had limited space when the field fired back into action. They also linked the crash to a chain reaction set off by Franco Colapinto’s earlier wreck, which involved Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris and helped turn the restart into a scramble before the contact between the Racing Bulls teammates.
The decision kept Lindblad out of trouble after the collision. Lawson’s car was spun into the run-off area and suffered damage, including a punctured floor. Colapinto still received a 10-second penalty, which was converted into a five-place grid drop for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Lawson responds after contact
Lawson ended up 12th after the collision, and he did not hide his frustration over how the restart unfolded. He said he did not understand what Lindblad was trying to do, and he questioned why the contact did not bring a penalty for his teammate. Lawson also said the hit was hard enough to damage his car, and the floor puncture added to the lost ground.
Lawson called the clash “sucks for our race.” That line summed up the frustration on his side after a race that changed in one corner. He had to absorb the damage and the track position loss from a restart that turned chaotic almost as soon as the cars arrived at Turn 1.
He left the race with a damaged car and a 12th-place finish.
Racing Bulls salvage points
Lindblad took a different view of the same incident. He said he had locked up and had nowhere to go in the chaotic restart, and he apologized to Lawson and the team after the contact. The stewards’ conclusion fit that explanation, with their ruling that the crash was a normal first-corner restart incident and that no one carried the main share of the blame. Lindblad still came away with a result he could build on. He finished seventh after passing Haas driver Esteban Ocon by 0.030 seconds at the line.
That finish mattered for Racing Bulls, and both drivers said the result carried weight in the midfield battle. Lindblad’s seventh-place run showed recovery after the collision, while Lawson’s 12th left the team with mixed emotions after a race that offered both damage and points-level pace. The team returned from Baku with one driver inside the top 10.
Lawson said Racing Bulls need to turn things around next week. Lindblad’s apology, the stewards’ no-penalty ruling and the narrow margin over Ocon all formed part of the aftermath after the contact overshadowed part of the afternoon.
