Alpine to review “course of action” after Franco Colapinto crash in Azerbaijan GP

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Alpine is set to review its next steps after a dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix incident that ended Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly’s race, while also taking out McLaren’s Lando Norris. Flavio Briatore, Alpine’s Executive Advisor, said he will “take time to ‘consider what course of action should be taken’” after what he described as a “very poor move” at the restart.

The crash unfolded after a Safety Car was triggered by Alex Albon’s accident during the Saturday race. At the restart in Baku, Colapinto entered Turn 1 too quickly, locked up and collided with Gasly’s car. In the subsequent chain reaction, Gasly’s contact with Norris sent all three drivers off the track. Gasly and Norris stopped immediately, while Colapinto was able to limp back to the pits, but the damage was too extensive for the team to repair, resulting in a double DNF for Alpine and a retirement for Norris.

Briatore framed the loss of points as a blow to the team’s championship ambitions. “Obviously I'm extremely disappointed with the outcome of today's race, knowing we lost valuable points in the Championship fight,” Briatore said. He added that the team had been running well with both cars in point-scoring positions before the incident. Briatore also expressed regret for Gasly—who had been running in seventh before the crash—while apologizing to Norris and McLaren for “ruining their race.”

Colapinto took responsibility for the collision, according to his own radio and post-race comments reported by the Formula 1 site. Briatore said he believed Colapinto “braked far too late” for the circumstances of the restart and called it “a very poor move for a driver of his experience.” Briatore’s response also included a commitment to reflect on future prevention: “I want to take time to reflect on it and consider what course of action should be taken, so we can learn from it and avoid such a situation in future.”

The incident also affected Alpine’s position in the Teams’ standings. The team had been on course to cut a nine-point gap to Racing Bulls for fifth, but instead fell six points further adrift as Arvid Lindblad finished seventh for Alpine. With the crash wiping out both regular cars, Alpine’s ability to convert strong pace into points was further undermined.

Beyond Baku, Colapinto faces a further penalty impact heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Formula 1 report states his 10-second penalty for causing the collision was converted into a five-place grid drop for next weekend’s race because he was unable to serve the in-race penalty after retiring.

Colapinto, speaking in the Baku media pen, offered an apology to the team and to Gasly. “Just a big sorry to all of them, to the factory, to Pierre of course,” he said, adding that “I took him out,” and stressing that both were in position to score points before he made “a big mistake.” He said simply, “Big sorry, it shouldn't happen.”

Gasly, who saw his points day end with the collision, said he and the team would respond together. “I don’t think I really have words and I don’t need the words now. We’ll manage it together as a team,” Gasly said. “I’m obviously very disappointed for all the guys, P7 and P10 was a very good race, good pace… [We’ve] got to move on.”