Alpine F1 executive Flavio Briatore has been left “extremely disappointed” with his team’s double DNF in F1’s Azerbaijan GP, criticising Franco Colapinto for “a very poor move” to take out team-mate Peirre Gasly.
On a lap 36 restart, Colapinto locked his front tyres on the dusty, low-grip inside of the Baku street circuit, slamming into the side of Pierre Gasly, taking both drivers out of the race. McLaren driver Lando Norris was also collected in the incident, which robbed Alpine of a likely double points finish.
Both Gasly and Norris were upset with Colapinto’s driving, with the latter even going as far as calling for the FIA to consider a one-race ban for careless driving behaviour.
Colapinto’s boss Briatore was also distinctly unimpressed and didn’t shy away from criticising the Argentinian.
“Obviously I’m extremely disappointed with the outcome of today’s race, knowing we lost valuable points in the Championship fight,” Briatore was quoted in Alpine’s post-race press release.
“These sorts 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.
“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. It was a very poor move for a driver of his experience.”
Franco Colapinto, Alpine, Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Photo by: Alex Pantling / LAT Images via Getty Images
Briatore said he would consider his next steps after the incident to avoid a future repeat. “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,” the Italian said.
Colapnto’s Baku blunder comes after the 23-year-old had been enjoying his strongest spell of form in F1 to date, earning him a new Alpine deal for the 2027 season to remain alongside Gasly at the Enstone-based team.
Photos from F1 Azerbaijan GP – Saturday
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