Franco Colapinto fought for his first points with Alpine at the Chinese GP, eventually coming over the line in tenth place, scoring his first point with the French team. However, this result could have been improved, had Esteban Ocon not knocked the pair of them off the circuit midway through the race.

Ocon went for a bold move down the inside of Colapinto at Turn 2, as the Argentine had initially ran wide into Turn 1. However, this opened the second corner up for Colapinto, and Ocon came charging into the side of the Alpine, sending the pair of them spinning.

It was particularly unfortunate for Colapinto, who appeared to have strong pace, similar to team-mate Pierre Gasly, who ended up finishing in sixth position.

The Frenchman took full responsibility for the incident, saying: "It's my fault, I did a mistake, I misjudged it." Ocon then went onto social media to post an apology to Colapinto, but was met with backlash from fans in the comments of his post.

Colapinto took to the comments section, stating: "All good mate! Thanks for the apology, see you soon."

However, the situation continued to escalate, leading to Colapinto's management, Bullet Sports Management, stating: “Public Service Announcement: Please do not send hate or death threats to Esteban, his family, or the Haas F1 team. It won’t undo the crash and only reflects poorly on Franco’s fandom. Thank you for keeping the support positive and respectful!”

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