Lando Norris has strongly demanded that Franco Colapinto face a Formula 1 race ban following a costly error during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that eliminated Norris, Colapinto, and Pierre Gasly in Baku. The chaotic incident unfolded on a safety car restart when Colapinto suffered a massive lock-up entering Turn 1 while running in tenth place.
The mistake occurred as the young driver was seemingly caught out by the rapid deceleration of Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes ahead of him. Unable to scrub off enough speed while hugging the inside wall, Colapinto ploughed directly into his Alpine team-mate Gasly, triggering a chain reaction that also took out an unsuspecting Norris.
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Subscribe"I think the FIA should be more strict and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff. It's just careless from people," said Norris after the race, expressing deep frustration over the destruction of his car parts and financial costs. "People should just get banned, because that's not driving that deserves to be in Formula 1."
Despite Norris reiterating his call for at least a one-race suspension, current regulations make an immediate ban unlikely under the FIA penalty points system. Colapinto held only four penalty points prior to the incident, falling well short of the 12-point threshold required within a 12-month period for an automatic race ban.
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Colapinto was immediately apologetic over team radio and in subsequent media appearances, acknowledging his complete loss of control during the braking zone. "I was out of control completely. Not a lot more to say than sorry to the team, to Pierre, of course, to all the factory," Colapinto said, while race stewards ultimately handed him a post-race grid drop.
The dramatic multi-car collision has left Alpine weighing internal disciplinary measures against Franco Colapinto for wiping out his own team-mate. Team management confirmed they will carefully review the incident to determine what course of action should be taken moving forward.
While Lando Norris argued that drivers must anticipate low grip and tyre temperatures during safety car restarts, he maintained that elite motorsport requires higher standards of anticipation. "In Formula 1 you want to be against the best drivers in the world, and when stuff like this happens, it's because... yeah, [it] shouldn't be there," Norris added.
Franco Colapinto accepted responsibility for the mistake and admitted that he expected a penalty from the stewards for the avoidable crash. Although a 10-second penalty was initially assessed at the conclusion of the race, it converted into a grid drop since he failed to reach the finish line.