Franco Colapinto caused himself, Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris to retire from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Image: Fox Sports
Norris was caught up in the Turn 1 incident following a Safety Car restart after Colapinto locked his front tyres and collided with teammate Pierre Gasly, sending the Frenchman into the McLaren.
All three drivers were forced to retire, ending what had already been a difficult afternoon for Norris after struggling with McLaren’s straight-line speed throughout the race.
The reigning world champion was scathing afterwards, suggesting some drivers did not deserve to be competing in Formula 1.
“I was just slow. Just struggling a lot in the straights. I mean you saw how quickly everyone came past me. So just an impossible race out there for me from that side and straight line speed today,” Norris told Sky Sports F1.
“So hopefully we get that fixed for next time. But otherwise, I still made the mistake. And at the end of the day I just got taken out. So just some drivers that shouldn’t be in Formula 1 to be honest.”
Norris went further when speaking to written media after the race, calling for the FIA to take stronger action against incidents of that nature.
“I’ve not seen it. I just got taken out. I think the FIA should be stricter and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff,” Norris said.
“It’s careless from people. It costs a lot of money; all my parts are in the bin now. People should just get banned, because that’s not driving that deserves to be in Formula 1.
“In Formula 1, I think you expect drivers to anticipate things. Grip is going to be low; tyre temps are low; they weren’t even that low.
“In Formula 1, we want to be against the best drivers in the world, and when stuff like this happens, it’s because [they] shouldn’t be there.
“I’ve not seen it, but if you cause a crash in a restart like this, you should have at least a one-race ban.”
The retirement was Norris’ first since Monaco and ended an eight-race run of points finishes, while it also contributed to McLaren’s third scoreless grand prix of the season.
Norris had earlier locked up at Turn 1 himself and dropped behind Gasly and Kimi Antonelli before the Safety Car gave him an opportunity to recover on the softer compound.
He made ground at the restart before becoming an innocent victim of the collision between the Alpine teammates.
Colapinto immediately accepted responsibility for the incident and apologised to both Gasly and Norris, as well as the wider Alpine team.
“It was a big mistake. So big sorry to Pierre and to everyone in the factory that has been working really hard, We lost a lot of positions,” Colapinto told Sky Sports F1.
“We were with both cars in the points. So very sad and disappointed. So big sorry.
“It’s a big mistake. Cold brakes, cold tyres, and locked up and completely out of control. So unfortunately I took Pierre out. And Lando of course.
“But yeah, big sorry to both.”
Colapinto was initially given a 10-second penalty for causing the collision, although with the Argentine failing to finish the race it was converted into a five place grid penalty for the next round.
The incident was particularly costly for Alpine, with both cars running in the points before the crash while midfield rival Racing Bulls went on to score heavily.
Gasly said Alpine had been enjoying one of its strongest races of the season before the double retirement.
“I mean, trying to find my words. It’s yeah, not easy. We did a very good weekend and the car was one of the best race car we’ve had this season. And the pace was great,” Gasly told Sky Sports F1.
“Keeping up with Lewis and Lando for most of the race. And we had a, I think, 14 or 15 second gap to the midfield. So I think a lot of positives to take away.
“But I’m still struggling to process the outcome and the fact that we had both both cars in the points and in the end we get outscored by Racing Bulls by a lot of points. So not an ideal day.
“I’m sure we’re going to move on from it. And unfortunately, we’ve lost out today. And hopefully we can make it up until the end of the year.”
Despite the disappointment in Baku, Norris pointed to McLaren’s recent form as reason for optimism ahead of the next race in Malaysia.
“I mean we won two and should have won three of the last four races. So plenty of positives. Obviously not this weekend. Not quick enough,” he said.
“But we knew that. We’re going to be in for another tough few weekends I imagine. But maybe Malaysia is a better one for us.”
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