Franco Colapinto has learned his fate after narrowly avoiding a huge crash with Lewis Hamilton in the second practice session in Melbourne. The Argentine Alpine driver was driving slowly down the main straight, but did not move off the racing line while Hamilton's
Ferrari went at full speed to start a new lap.
The seven-time world champion just avoided Colapinto, telling the team over the radio that the Alpine man was going "crazy slow".
No further action on Colapinto, FIA confirm
The stewards have ruled no further action on Colapinto following the incident.
In a lengthy statement, the
FIA Stewards said: "
Colapinto explained that his car suffered a ‘false neutral’ as he was approaching the final turn and lost drive as he turned onto the main straight. “While the team were giving him instructions over the radio to attempt to resolve the issue, the driver kept his car rolling slowly on the left of the main straight having been instructed to do so by his team should he be unable to resolve the issue and the driver needed to stop the car.
“As Colapinto approached the control line, Colapinto was caught by Hamilton. While Hamilton had a clear line of sight of Colapinto for some distance along the main straight, Hamilton was apparently surprised to find Colapinto moving so slowly on the racing line and had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
"Colapinto explained that he was watching his mirrors the whole time and knew that Hamilton was approaching. He said that he was instructed by the team to stay to the left because the Race Director’s Competition Notes (Emergency Exit Map) marks the exit point on the main straight on the left side of the track. He said that if he had tried to move off the racing line when he had no drive he could have created a more dangerous situation.
“The stewards were satisfied that there was nothing about Colapinto's driving which was erratic. Given his mechanical problem, he was not driving “unnecessarily” slowly.
“Given further that the driver positioned his car to ensure that he could reach the designated exit point in the event that the problem with his car was not resolved before he reached it, the stewards did not consider that the actions of the driver were unsafe and therefore determined to take no further action.”
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