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McLaren driver and reigning world champion Lando Norris has called for Alpine driver Franco Colapinto to be disqualified for one race over a crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
As the race resumed after the safety car period, Colapinto lost control under braking while approaching the first corner. His car collided with that of his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, whose car then hit Norris’s McLaren. All three drivers were forced to retire from the race.
Norris calls for harsher penalty
Norris, who failed to finish a race for the first time since the Monaco Grand Prix in June, strongly criticized the incident.
“If you cause a crash during a restart like that, you should get at least a one-race ban. It is people being careless. It causes a huge expense, all my parts are already in the bin, and there should be a penalty in situations like this,” Norris said.
Colapinto attempted to continue after making a pit stop but later retired. He was handed a 10-second penalty. That penalty will be converted into a five-place grid penalty for the next race in Malaysia on Oct. 4.
Alpine loses chance to score double points
Both Gasly and Colapinto were running in points-paying positions when the crash occurred. The incident ended Alpine’s opportunity to score points with both drivers.
“I think I’m genuinely lost for words. I’m obviously very disappointed for the whole team,” Gasly said.
Colapinto apologized, saying his tires locked up under braking and the car became uncontrollable.
“I’m sorry to all of them. It shouldn’t have happened. The tires locked up under braking and the car became completely uncontrollable. There wasn’t much I could do in that situation,” the Argentine driver said.
Russell and Verstappen oppose race ban
Race winner George Russell said a one-race suspension would be an excessively harsh penalty for the incident.
“I think race bans should be reserved for situations where a driver has deliberately done something extremely dangerous and highly irresponsible,” the Mercedes driver said.
Second-place finisher Max Verstappen also agreed with Russell. He said the crash had been bad for everyone involved, but imposing a race ban for the incident could be considered too severe a punishment.
