Franco Colapinto receives five-place Bahrain GP grid penalty after Azerbaijan collision
Image accompanying the official F1 announcement.Franco Colapinto has been handed a five-place grid penalty for next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia after stewards determined he was wholly or predominantly to blame for a multi-car collision during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The incident happened at the Baku City Circuit on Saturday when Colapinto was attempting to make up ground during the first Safety Car restart on Lap 36/51. At Turn 1, he went too deep and made contact that took out Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly and the McLaren of Lando Norris.
Following a review of the footage and data available, the stewards concluded that Colapinto “was wholly or predominantly to blame for the collision,” and therefore applied a penalty.
Because Colapinto also retired from the race, the stewards stated that a 10-second time penalty would be converted into a drop of five grid positions at the Sepang International Circuit, affecting the starting order for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Reporting source: F1 official update