Former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya has defended Franco Colapinto's aggressive approach following a costly multi-car collision at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Colapinto triggered a Turn 1 pile-up during a safety car restart at the Baku City Circuit. Misjudging his braking point, the Argentine locked up and collided with his Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly, who then crashed into Lando Norris. All three drivers were forced to retire from the race.
Colapinto immediately apologised after the race and admitted he was "completely out of control". However, criticism came from the other drivers involved. Montoya, speaking on F1 TV's post-race broadcast, offered a different view. He praised Colapinto's approach and described the incident as a consequence of understandable aggression. "I think he expected everybody to go pretty deep. The problem is when you're so far back it's like a traffic jam," Montoya explained. "Everybody backs off and backs off. And you see he brakes and he's going to run over somebody. So he gets out of the way and gets to the inside, and he nearly stopped the car. He made a mistake and ran over the team-mate and he took Lando out as well. He made a mistake, but it was close."
Montoya added that he admires drivers who take risks. "The hard thing there is you're aggressive; you see an opportunity, and I admire people that try. When you have a restart, they see it as an opportunity. Some people see the restart as, 'I don't want to lose a position,' and Franco is the guy who wants to go and take it. When you're always the guy, like Max Verstappen, who always sees an opportunity to take it, you're going to make mistakes," he said.
The incident adds pressure on Colapinto, who currently sits 12th in the drivers' championship with 27 points. Gasly, meanwhile, is 10th with 41 points. Despite the setback, Montoya's support shows that aggression is still valued in the paddock, provided drivers learn from their mistakes. The Baku crash serves as a valuable lesson for Colapinto, who must balance risk-taking with consistency.
In the context of the championship, losing points in Baku could impact Colapinto's final standings. However, with many races remaining, the young driver has a chance to bounce back. Alpine also needs to evaluate their restart strategy, as the incident hurt the team overall. Meanwhile, Gasly and Norris must accept the bitter reality of losing important points in the title fight.
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