Franco Colapinto has been given a five-place grid penalty for the Malaysian Grand Prix following a multi-car collision at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Alpine driver locked up and collided with teammate Pierre Gasly, who then hit McLaren's Lando Norris during a restart in Saturday's race in Baku. All three cars retired as a result.
Colapinto was initially handed a 10-second time penalty, but because he retired and could not serve the penalty, it was converted into a five-place grid drop for the next race in Malaysia. This means he will lose five positions from wherever he qualifies next weekend.
In their official statement, the stewards explained: "Following the restart, COL approached GAS from behind into Turn 1. COL braked too late and entered the corner on the inside at a speed which did not allow him to make the corner in a controlled manner. He overshot the corner and made contact with the left-hand side of GAS, who then hit NOR and both cars retired." The stewards deemed Colapinto wholly or predominantly to blame, with no contribution from another driver to justify a more lenient approach.
The standard penalty for causing a collision is a 10-second time penalty. As Colapinto had retired and was unable to serve the time penalty, the stewards converted it to a grid drop in accordance with Article B1.9.6.(e) of the FIA F1 2026 Regulations. This decision underscores the stewards' consistency in enforcing the rules, especially for incidents after a restart where first-lap leniency does not apply.
The incident drew a strong reaction from reigning world champion Lando Norris, who called for tougher sanctions. "I think the FIA should be more strict and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff," Norris said. "It's just careless from people. Costs a lot of money. All my parts are in the bin now, so yeah, people should just get banned because that's not driving that deserves to be in Formula 1. I've not seen it, but I mean if you cause a crash on a restart like this, you should have at least a one-race ban."
This adds pressure on Colapinto, who is in his debut F1 season with Alpine. The grid penalty in Malaysia will make it harder for him to score points, especially at Sepang where qualifying performance is crucial. Meanwhile, Gasly and Norris lose valuable points opportunities in Baku, which could impact their championship positions.
With this incident, discussions about penalty standards and driver safety have resurfaced. The FIA faces calls to reevaluate penalties for drivers deemed careless, especially when they affect others. The final decision will set a precedent for similar incidents in the future.
Baca Juga
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Franco Colapinto kena penalti turun 5 posisi grid di GP Malaysia usai tabrakan kontroversial di Azerbaijan. Lando Norris desak larangan balapan.
Max Verstappen dan George Russell membela Franco Colapinto dari tuntutan larangan balap usai insiden di F1 Azerbaijan. Simak analisis dan dampaknya.
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