NORRIS CALLS FOR COLAPINTO BAN AFTER BAKU CRASH
Lando Norris called for a one-race ban for Franco Colapinto after a crash ended the McLaren driver’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. The incident happened on Lap 36, during the first Safety Car restart of the race.
Colapinto locked his front tyres while braking for Turn 1 and went deep into the corner. He hit his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, who was then pushed into Norris. All three drivers were forced to retire from the race.
Norris was clearly frustrated after losing what could have been a points-scoring result. The McLaren driver said that some drivers “shouldn’t be in F1” and called on the FIA to be stricter with penalties, suggesting that Colapinto should receive at least a one-race ban.
Colapinto accepted responsibility for the crash. The Argentine driver apologised to Gasly, Norris and the Alpine team, describing the incident as a big mistake after locking his tyres under braking.
The FIA stewards gave Colapinto a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision. Because he retired from the race and could not serve the penalty, it was converted into a five-place grid penalty for the next round, the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
However, Norris’ call for a race ban was not supported by George Russell and Max Verstappen. Russell said that a ban would be too harsh, pointing to the difficulty of Safety Car restarts and the low tyre temperatures. He said that race bans should be reserved for intentionally dangerous or very reckless actions.
Verstappen agreed with Russell and said that a small mistake or misjudgement can have major consequences in Formula 1. He also highlighted that Colapinto understood what he had done and apologised after the incident. Verstappen described a race ban as “a bit much”.
Isack Hadjar also disagreed with the idea of a ban. The Red Bull driver pointed to the Baku circuit and the difficulty of keeping tyre temperatures under control during Safety Car periods, saying that going off the racing line can make the track much more difficult to handle.
The crash was particularly costly for Alpine because both Gasly and Colapinto had been running inside the top 10 before the incident. Gasly was in seventh position and Colapinto was in the points when the Safety Car restart led to the collision.
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