Alpine Formula 1 driver Franco Colapinto has been dropped from eighth to 10th in the Barcelona Grand Prix result after being handed a 10-second time penalty.
Colapinto finished eighth on the road, behind Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly, on what had been a solid recovery day for the Enstone squad after it struggled for pace all weekend.
But after the race, Colapinto was called to the FIA race stewards as they investigated his driving under yellow flag conditions. As Fernando Alonso parked up his Aston Martin at Turn 9 on lap 40, with a suspected battery issue, Colapinto was deemed not to have slowed down sufficiently under the local yellow flag before it became a virtual safety car situation.
The stewards felt that while the Argentine did slow down, he didn’t do enough to respect the yellow flag and slapped him with a 10-second time penalty. That drops him form eight to 10th in the order, behind Racing Bulls duo Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.
Colapinto was also handed a penalty point on his super licence, bringing his tally up to two over the past 12 months.
“The stewards determine that the driver of Car 43 slightly reduced speed before entering the single yellow flag zone, but did not discernibly reduce speed in the relevant yellow flag sector. The stewards acknowledge that the driver reacted to the yellow flag but do not consider the reaction to be sufficient to comply with the regulations. Therefore, a penalty on the lower end of the applicable scale of penalties is imposed.”
Speaking before the penalty, Colapinto said: “It’s been a very good race, very solid. As a team we showed that we were really strong and that we turned around a tricky result. I think positive as a whole, it’s been a much stronger race day.
“With a full tank we showed that we were better. We keep working and keep trying to get better for the next few races, seeing that the car is not feeling good and we have a lot of things to improve and to understand.”
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