In the race in Baku, the Argentine triggered a multi-car pile-up straight after the safety car restart, with team-mate Pierre Gasly and world champion Lando Norris (McLaren) among those caught up in it.
Heading into turn one, Colapinto badly misjudged his braking. Carrying far too much speed on cold, locking tyres, he first crashed into Gasly, who then took out Norris on the very outside. All three drivers were unable to continue the Grand Prix because the damage to their cars was too severe.
“I was simply taken out,” fumed Norris after the race in the direction of the Argentine. “I think the FIA (world governing body for motor sport; editor’s note) should be much stricter there. It is simply reckless from some people. It costs an extreme amount of money. All my parts are now ending up in the bin.”
For the reigning world champion, Colapinto should even be taken out of circulation for the time being after his reckless manoeuvre: “People like that should simply be banned, because that is not racing that deserves to be in Formula 1,” raged Norris.
In Formula 1, people simply expect drivers to “anticipate things and know that grip is low and tyre temperatures are low”. Norris said he wanted to race against “the best drivers in the world, and when something like that happens, it is because they have no business being here”. His demand was a ban of “at least one race” for Colapinto.
Getty ImagesWho else criticised Franco Colapinto after his crash?
Meanwhile, the Alpine driver also came under fire from within his own team after the ill-fated move. “In fact, given the situation in the race and the restart behind the safety car, he braked far too late. It was a very weak move for a driver of his experience,” team principal Flavio Briatore said in a clear verdict.
Colapinto had taken full responsibility for the crash, “as he should”, but that could not undo what had happened. Particularly bitter for Alpine, both cars were on course for points. “We know that we lost valuable points in the fight for the championship,” said Briatore, who also apologised to Gasly as well as to McLaren and Norris.
At the same time, the Alpine team principal indicated that the incident could still have internal consequences. He stopped short of announcing a concrete decision: “I want to take time to think about it and consider what measures should be taken so that we can learn from it and avoid such a situation in future.”
Shortly after the race, the FIA had already handed Colapinto a penalty. The Argentine avoided a race ban, he had not collected enough penalty points this season for that, but at the next race in Malaysia he will be dropped five places on the starting grid.