Sports · updated 59m ago · 2 min read
Lando Norris Calls For Franco Colapinto Ban After Azerbaijan Grand Prix Crash
Norris calls for a one-race ban for Colapinto after the Baku crash. Restart at Turn 1 caused a three-car crash, eliminating Norris, Gasly, Colapinto.
18 outlets told this the same way.
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7 of 9 outlets skipped it: colapinto's earlier penalty converts into a Bahrain grid drop.
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Restart crash in Baku
Lando Norris called for Franco Colapinto to be banned after the Alpine driver caused an accident at a restart at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, a crash that left Norris, Colapinto, and Pierre Gasly all retiring.
Norris said he was taken out in a chain reaction when Colapinto locked up his brakes and slid into team-mate Pierre Gasly, who then hit Norris.
Colapinto said, "I can be sorry to everyone. It's been a big mistake, of course. I just locked up and then I was very out of control."
Norris argued that the FIA should take such incidents more seriously because of the impact on other drivers and the cost in damaged parts, and he told BBC Radio 5 Live, "Give him a ban. It's quite simple."
The stewards imposed a 10-second penalty on Colapinto, and the penalty will be converted into a grid drop at the next race, the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, next weekend.
Debate over punishment
George Russell said a ban would be too severe, arguing that safety car restarts and cold tyres can turn a small mistake into a big consequence.
Max Verstappen added that a race ban is probably too much, saying, "As long as the driver that caused it is aware of what he did, right, and apologised... It's not nice."
Norris pushed back on the idea that the restart conditions could excuse the incident, and he argued that the FIA should be stricter and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff.
Colapinto said he expected "something" in terms of a penalty, while recalling that he was not a race official.
Gasly said he was "crushed" by the incident and described it as difficult to process after a strong weekend and strong race.
Next race and points
Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad finished seventh, and the result extended their gap over Alpine in their fight for fifth place in the constructors' championship to 15 points. Norris’s comments framed the dispute as a line between driving error and fault, with the outcome depending on disciplinary decisions as much as on whether the restart incident can be prevented from turning into a mass elimination. The penalty system also shaped the debate, because a race suspension requires reaching 12 penalty points within a 12-month period, and the current framework left no precedent for a suspension based on this single event.
Colapinto apologized to the team and to Pierre Gasly, and he described the episode as a "big mistake" while saying he was "completely out of control." McLaren said it was too early to say whether the incident would mean Norris would not be able to use the upgraded parts the team debuted in Baku at the race in Malaysia.