Flavio Briatore Warns Franco Colapinto After Disastrous Baku Collision
Flavio Briatore has told Franco Colapinto that his crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix will have consequences. He called the move that took out three cars at Turn 1 a “very poor” one for a driver of his experience. The Flavio Briatore Franco Colapinto rebuke came after a messy restart in Baku, where Colapinto locked his brakes, clattered into team-mate Pierre Gasly, and knocked Gasly into Lando Norris. All three were out on the spot, and Alpine’s afternoon fell apart in an instant.
Briatore Demands Alpine Reflection Following Turn 1 Restart Incident
Speaking after the race, Briatore didn’t dress up how he felt about the result.
Obviously I’m extremely disappointed with the outcome of today’s race, knowing we lost valuable points in the Championship fight.
He turned next to the wider fallout, pointing out that Alpine had both cars scoring points before the crash wiped that away. He also had words for the drivers caught up in it.
These sort of incidents shouldn’t happen, particularly when we were running well with both cars in point-scoring positions. I feel very sorry for the team and for Pierre who did a great job all weekend and my apologies also go to Lando [Norris] and McLaren for ruining their race.
On where the fault lay, Briatore was direct.
I know that Franco has taken full responsibility for it, as he should; in fact he braked far too late considering the context of the race and the safety car restart. It was a very poor move for a driver of his experience.
Colapinto himself owned the mistake straight away, taking full responsibility and apologising to Alpine and to Gasly personally.
This isn’t the first time Briatore has drawn a hard line with his rookie driver. An earlier deadline set by Briatore already put pressure on Colapinto to justify his long-term place at Alpine, and this crash will only add to it.
Constructors Impact and Driver Paddock Reactions to Baku Crash
The result lands at a painful moment in Alpine’s fight for a better finish in the constructors’ standings. The team sit sixth on 68 points, 15 behind Racing Bulls in fifth, and a scoreless Sunday leaves that gap untouched with fewer races left on the calendar to close it.
Opinion in the paddock was divided. Norris, whose own race ended through no fault of his, felt Colapinto deserved a race ban and wasn’t ready to wave it off as a routine mistake. Max Verstappen and George Russell took a gentler view, defending Colapinto and noting how tricky restarts behind a safety car can be for anyone.
Briatore’s comments, first reported by the Crash.net report, lean closer to Norris’s stance than to the sympathy shown by Verstappen and Russell. Even so, he named no punishment. The Flavio Briatore Franco Colapinto story looks likely to run on well past the Baku weekend.
Upcoming Alpine Review and Timeline for Future Team Action
Briatore made clear that Alpine will weigh things up before acting.
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.
No disciplinary decision has been confirmed, and Alpine haven’t set a date for when one might arrive. For more from a busy stretch on the calendar, see our roundup of racing headlines.
