Alpine has questioned the Azerbaijan Grand Prix stewards’ decision not to penalise Arvid Lindblad for a collision during a restart last weekend, after Alpine driver Franco Colapinto was penalised for causing an incident ahead. Alpine executive consultant Flavio Briatore said he did not understand why Lindblad, who drives for Racing Bulls, was not also penalised for contact with Liam Lawson.

“I don’t understand” why the stewards did not penalise Lindblad, Briatore said. “We are penalised, we deserve to be penalised. I don’t understand why Racing Bulls was not penalised, because Lindblad did exactly the same to Lawson. “Why are we penalised and also Lindblad was not penalised?”

The stewards explained that they cleared Lindblad because “the contact was primarily the result of the restricted space available to Lindblad and the chain reaction caused by the incident ahead”. Colapinto caused that incident ahead, according to the account of the stewards’ reasoning.

The collision and penalty decisions come amid Alpine’s championship battle with Racing Bulls. Alpine is 15 points behind its rival in the contest for fifth place. It lost six points to Racing Bulls in Baku, after gaining on the team in each of the previous three rounds.

RaceFans asked readers whether the stewards should have issued a penalty for the collision between Lindblad and Lawson. The poll had 42 voters at the time of the report, and voting required a RaceFans account. The site said the poll result would be displayed after voting closed, with readers also invited to comment.

The report was published by RaceFans on Oct. 2, 2026, at 11:10, and was written by Keith Collantine. The site was founded by Collantine in 2005 as F1 Fanatic. He had previously worked as a motoring journalist and began running the site full-time in 2010 to focus on his passion for motor racing.

Based on reporting by RaceFans.