Visa Cash App Racing Bull’s (VCARB) F1 team has moved further ahead of rival Alpine after the conclusion of the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix held on the streets of Baku City over the weekend. While Liam Lawson came away with no-points, VCARB teammate Arvid Lindblad finished in seventh moving their team 15-points clear of Alpine after both of their drivers collided together and did not finish the race.
Alpine were on course for a double points finish in Baku before Franco Colapinto collided with Pierre Gasly after a Safety Car restart, taking them and McLaren’s Lando Norris out of the race. It is reported that Colapinto misjudged his braking, locked up and hit the side of Gasly’s car with the pair spinning and collecting Norris’ McLaren.
Meanwhile, behind that commotion, VCARB’s Lindblad hit teammate Liam Lawson spinning him off the track, the result saw Lawson continue to the finish albeit he dropped down the order and out of contention for valuable driver and team points.
“I need to watch it,” commented Lawson. “We were all coming into Turn 1 on the restart and I just got smoked from my left. It put a hole in my floor as well.
“I don’t really know what gap he was looking for in the middle of both of us going into Turn 1 – I just don’t understand it. Obviously great points for the team but it sucks for our race.”
Lindblad was immediately apologectic saying, “It was just an absolute mess going into Turn 1. Everyone was moving a lot. Obviously a bit of a shame to hit Liam but if you see the incident, you can see there’s not much I could’ve done. I came and immediately apologised to him, and obviously I apologised to the team because there could’ve been two of us up there today.”
Lawson saw the positives given Alpine’s failure to close back the points difference between the two.
“We got very lucky today – they (Alpine) were much quicker than us and they have been all weekend. We need to try and turn it around next week.”
Team’s Standings
Pos. Team Pts.
1/ Mercedes 538
2/ Ferrari 378
3/ McLaren 306
4/ Red Bull Racing 263
5/ Racing Bulls 83
6/ Alpine 68
7/ Haas F1 Team 27
8/ Audi 17
9/ Williams 12
10/ Aston Martin 3
11/ Cadillac 0
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