World champion Lando Norris is absolutely fuming, and he is calling for Alpine’s Franco Colapinto to be banned after a chaotic restart at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Norris was taken out in a chain reaction, seeing his race end early after Colapinto locked up his brakes in Turn One, sliding into his own team-mate Pierre Gasly, who then slammed into Norris. All three cars were done for the day because of that one incident.
“Give Him a Ban”: Norris Unleashes on Careless Driving
Norris did not hold back when he spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live. “Give him a ban. It’s quite simple,” he said, plain and direct. Colapinto, for his part, admitted it was a huge screw-up, saying, “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.” But apologies might not be enough for Norris, who believes the governing body, the FIA, needs to get serious about these kinds of wrecks. He is fed up with the impact on blameless drivers and the massive cost of damaged parts.
The Price of Recklessness: Money, Points, and Reputations
Norris laid out exactly why he thinks the FIA needs to step up. “The FIA should be more strict and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff,” he declared. “It’s careless from people. It costs a lot of money. All my parts are in the bin now, so people should just get banned for this kind of driving. Don’t deserve to be in Formula 1.” He even went as far as to suggest a one-race ban for causing a restart crash. Colapinto did get a 10-second penalty in the race, but since he was already out, that will become a grid drop at the next event, likely five places. This whole mess is particularly painful for Alpine, who had both drivers in points-scoring positions, running seventh and 10th, before the crash. Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad finished seventh, extending their lead over Alpine in the fight for fifth place in the constructors’ championship to 15 points. Ouch.
Gasly was just “crushed” by the incident. “We’re all very disappointed with the outcome after such a strong weekend, strong race,” he said, noting it is “still difficult to process what just happened.” McLaren is not even sure if Norris can use the upgraded parts they debuted in Baku at the upcoming Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. The next race, the Bahrain Grand Prix, is next weekend. Everyone will be watching to see how Colapinto performs with that grid penalty hanging over him and how Alpine tries to claw back some points after this costly incident.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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