Alpine driver Franco Colapinto has apologised for the “big mistake” that saw him knock team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren driver Lando Norris out of F1’s Azerbaijan GP.
On a lap 36 restart in the streets of Baku, Colapinto locked up his cold front tyres on the low-grip inside line into Turn 1 and clattered into the side of Gasly, with Norris also collected in the incident.
The incident cost Alpine a major points haul as both of its drivers were in the top 10, and it capped off a frustrating afternoon for Norris, who called on the FIA to punish careless driving with a race ban.
Afterwards, Colapinto was devastated by the damage he caused and apologised profusely to his team, to Gasly and to Norris.
“Just a big mistake,’ the Argentinian said. “I locked up completely with cold tyres and cold brakes and was out of control completely. So, not a lot to say more than sorry to the team, to Pierre of course, to all the factory.
“We’ve been working really hard to score points and I threw it away with that big mistake. So, very sad for the team. Of course, a big disappointment.”
“We spoke to Pierre, he came back and of course he’s very upset, but I will try to talk to him again.”
Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT images via Getty Images
When put to him that Norris had called for a one-race ban, Colapinto replied: “Well, sorry to Lando as well, to be honest, not only Pierre. Sorry to everyone, it’s a big mistake, of course. I just locked up and then I was very out of control. I couldn’t do a lot. As soon as I touched the brake, I locked up and lost a lot.”
Colapinto acknowledged breaking the unwritten rule of not taking out a team-mate made the incident even worse and said he was expecting to get a penalty from the FIA’s race stewards.
“It is more than disappointing to take out your team-mate. That’s the biggest part of it,” he added.
“If it only affected me, it would be okay to learn, but when it affects the other car as well, it’s even worse. I do expect to get something, of course. I don’t know, I’m not a steward, so I’ll leave it.”
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