Briatore considers action against Colapinto after ‘very poor’ move wipes out Norris and Gasly
Photo: Race Pictures
Updated: 19:06, 26 Sep
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Kieran is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs and feature content across the F1 calendar. An NQJ-qualified journalist with more than a decade of experience, he has previously written for publications including MailOnline, the Manchester Evening News and the Eastern Daily Press.
Flavio Briatore has delivered a scathing assessment of Franco Colapinto after the Alpine driver’s collision with Pierre Gasly also ended Lando Norris’ Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Colapinto braked too late at Turn 1 following the restart and hit his Alpine team-mate. Gasly was then sent into Norris, with all three drivers forced to retire. Alpine executive advisor Briatore said the incident was particularly frustrating given both cars had been running in points-paying positions.
“Obviously I’m extremely disappointed with the outcome of today’s race, knowing we lost valuable points in the Championship fight,” Briatore said in a statement on Alpine's website.
“These sort of incidents shouldn’t happen, particularly when we were running well with both cars in point-scoring positions. I feel very sorry for the team and for Pierre, who did a great job all weekend, and my apologies also go to Lando and McLaren for ruining their race.”
Briatore: Colapinto move was ‘very poor’
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Briatore said Colapinto had accepted responsibility for the crash, but did not hold back in his criticism of the Argentine driver’s move.
“I know that Franco has taken full responsibility for it, as he should; in fact he braked far too late considering the context of the race and the Safety Car restart,” he continued. “It was a very poor move for a driver of his experience.”
The Alpine boss added that the team will now consider its response to the incident, with the aim of ensuring it is not repeated.
“I want to take time to reflect on it and consider what course of action should be taken, so we can learn from it and avoid such a situation in future.”
Colapinto also faced heavy criticism from Norris who urged the FIA to "hand out bans for this kind of stuff". The Argentine driver was initially handed a 10 second time penalty, but because he failed to finish the race, that has been converted into a five-place grid drop for the Bahrain Grand Prix, which will be held in Malaysia.
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