> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Shock inaction over Baku's other F1 team-mate clash explained - URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/shock-inaction-over-bakus-other-f1-team-mate-clash-explained/ - Published: 2026-09-26T16:06:16.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-26T16:06:16.000Z - Description: The Racing Bulls collision at Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix that wiped out Liam Lawson was surprisingly dismissed as needing no further action - Author: Josh Suttill - Tags: Formula 1, #liam-lawson, #arvid-lindblad, #azerbaijan-grand-prix, #racing-bulls, #secondary_feature_1 The intra-team Racing Bulls collision at Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix that wiped out Liam Lawson was surprisingly dismissed as needing no further action. Franco Colapinto was handed a 10-second time penalty (converted into a five-place grid drop for the Malaysian Grand Prix) for spearing into his Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris’s McLaren, but the stewards decided not to act on the collision that took place behind them. While Ocon and Lawson were side-by-side in the Turn 1 braking zone, Lindblad ended up locking his brakes and running into Lawson in the sister car, punching a big hole in its floor and ruining Lawson’s race. Within 20 minutes of the incident occurring, the incident had been noted, placed under investigation and then dismissed as needing no further action. Asked about the ruling by The Race, Lawson said: “Great for the team \[Lindblad went on to finish seventh\], yeah, 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. So where I'm sitting, I don't understand, but let's say it's great for the team.” Lindblad apologised to Racing Bulls and Lawson for the clash but offered two mitigating circumstances for the incident. “It was an absolute mess. I think as you see on almost all safety car restarts here in Baku it gets quite chaotic in Turn 1, I don't know what was happening at the front, but it was pretty poorly managed in the sense that the field wasn't bunched up,” Lindblad said. “From where we were, me and Esteban, we'd gone - or Ollie \[Bearman\] - 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. “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. “So obviously I've apologised to him already; I've apologised to the team because it's not something you want, because there could have been two of us in the points today, but also at the same time we take the result.” Lindblad was speaking fresh from finishing the race with limited time to review the incident, but he says it was “terrible” in the middle of the train at the safety car restart. “It wasn't a well-done restart. In the end it should be a bunched-up field that goes slowly, and then we all go at once,” Lindblad said. “So I'm sure it will get raised at the briefing next week, and it's something we'll discuss, but honestly both restarts weren't very good. “You're trying to look a few cars ahead to see what's going on, but there are so many things we're having to manage here. In the end, it's a 2km straight, tyres are cold, brakes are cold, batteries are obviously a new problem. When everyone's going-and-stopping it's pretty dangerous and I think we need to understand why.” His first mitigating factor, a tricky restart on cold tyres and brakes, is certainly relevant, but whether that should absolve him of any penalty is highly questionable. Those were also factors applicable for the penalised Colapinto, after all. As for Ocon moving under braking, this really doesn’t appear to be the case, with Ocon holding his line to the left of Lawson. If anything, it’s Lawson on the right who makes a move across to try to cover Ocon. Lindblad shouldn’t be judged harshly for giving a fresh-from-the-moment opinion, but what’s baffling is why the stewards elected to quickly rule out any punishment for what appeared to be a clear-cut case of one out-of-control driver slamming into another with a misjudged move. ## Why did it go unpunished? The stewards predominantly didn’t punish Lindblad because they believed the incident to be a direct consequence of the Colapinto/Gasly/Norris shunt ahead. “That incident, together with Colapinto locking his brakes, triggered a braking reaction among the cars immediately ahead of Lindblad,” the stewards’ decision read. “At the same time, Lindblad was positioned between cars on either side. During the corner, Lindblad made contact with Lawson. “Having reviewed the positioning and movement of the cars involved, the stewards determined that the contact was primarily the result of the restricted space available to Lindblad and the chain reaction caused by the incident ahead, rather than any action or error for which Lindblad could be considered wholly or predominantly to blame.” When you review the incident footage, that explanation feels incredibly generous to Lindblad. The Gasly/Colapinto/Norris crash happened far enough up the road that Ocon and Lawson didn’t appear to initiate any meaningful avoiding action before Lindblad went into Lawson. The stewards' report makes no reference to it - but there could also be the unwritten rule of the stewards not judging team-mate collisions as harshly as collisions involving drivers from different teams. As Lawson himself said: “I'm not going to go and protest my team-mate.” Had the stewards opted for a post-race investigation, Racing Bulls would have obviously requested no penalty. But what colour the cars are shouldn’t be a factor when judging these incidents.