News Summary
- Franco Colapinto was penalised for causing the lap-36 collision at Turn 1 in Baku.
- The stewards issued a 10-second time penalty, which will become a grid drop because he did not finish.
- The crash eliminated Colapinto, Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Franco Colapinto has received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix restart. As the Alpine driver retired from the race and could not serve the penalty, the sanction will be converted into a grid drop at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The incident occurred at Turn 1 on lap 36, immediately after the field had been released from the safety car period caused by Alex Albon’s crash. Colapinto locked up under braking and hit teammate Pierre Gasly. Lando Norris was also caught in the collision, and his McLaren made contact with the wall. All three drivers retired.
Colapinto acknowledged his error over the Alpine radio before getting out of the car. “Sorry to all the team. Sorry to Pierre. Very bad, I completely locked up,” he said. Gasly, who had been running in the points, reacted to the lost result: “Oh my fucking God. I cannot believe it, cannot believe it. So many points gone.”
The stewards’ decision formally assigns responsibility for the collision to Colapinto. The number of grid places he will lose still needs to be confirmed from the written decision; the 10-second penalty should not be described as a 10-place drop. His starting position at the next race will depend on his qualifying result and the application of that grid sanction.
Norris got out of his car and was reported to be OK. In a post-race media session attended by GRANDE PRÊMIO in Baku, the McLaren driver called for the FIA to be stricter about incidents of this kind. “I think the FIA should be more strict and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff. It’s just careless from people,” he said, adding that the damage had left his car’s parts “in the bin”.
Norris said he had not yet watched a replay when he spoke. His call for bans was a view about the standard of driving and punishment he believes such incidents warrant; Colapinto’s announced sanction is a grid drop, not a race ban.
The collision brought out the second safety car of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. George Russell kept the lead at the subsequent restart and won by 0.196s over Max Verstappen, with Isack Hadjar third. Colapinto was classified as a non-finisher, while Gasly and Norris also left Baku without points.
Why was Franco Colapinto penalised in Baku?
The stewards found Colapinto responsible for causing the Turn 1 collision at the lap-36 restart. He locked up and hit Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, with Lando Norris also caught in the crash.
