The Lando Norris Franco Colapinto apology has become one of the big talking points in Formula 1 this week. Norris has explained why he chose to apologise publicly to the Williams driver, after criticising him for their crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The McLaren driver admits he was wrong to call for a race ban in the aftermath of the Baku pile-up.
Speaking during Thursday’s press sessions in Malaysia, Norris said the public apology was meant to calm the online reaction to his comments. He had already said everything he needed to say to Colapinto directly.
Private Driver Reconciliation and Baku Incident Context
Norris was scathing after the race. He criticised Colapinto for causing a pile-up at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and made initial calls for a race ban. Colapinto offered his own reply at the time, and our report on Colapinto’s response to the demands covered how he addressed the criticism directly.
Norris said he reached out to Colapinto privately before going public. “It was more for the wider audience… I said what I wanted to Franco and he’s the only one really that I need to share my opinion and my apology with,” he said.
He gave more detail on that conversation. “I apologised to him for some of the things I said that were wrong, and he apologised to me for the incident, which is good. I like Franco a lot, he’s a very nice guy, we always talk on our track walk, on our drivers’ parades and things like that, so I have a lot of time with him. We were both just apologising to each other, so nothing more than that.” Background on how the clash unfolded can be found in our coverage of the Baku crash incident.
Driver Safety and Formula 1 Online Abuse Concerns
Norris made clear the public statement was not really aimed at Colapinto. “I don’t need to do it on social media, but at the same time there was obviously a lot of that noise and stuff in the background and I thought it was only sensible to announce or show that I made that apology. I accept that I was in the wrong,” he said.
The Lando Norris Franco Colapinto apology quickly turned into a wider conversation about abuse directed at drivers online. Norris said his original comments had sparked a backlash against Colapinto that went far beyond fair criticism.
He called on the sport and its platforms to take more responsibility. “It just highlights the fact that social media platforms, sports need to do more, maybe the athletes need to do more to stop this kind of stuff from happening. Because some people can deal with it much better than others,” he said.
Next Steps for Driver Relations and Platform Regulation
Norris and Colapinto appear to have settled things between themselves. Both drivers apologised for their part in the Baku incident. There is no sign of lingering tension heading into the next race weekend.
Norris stopped short of calling for specific action from the FIA or the platforms themselves. Instead, he focused on the general need for sport and tech companies to protect athletes from death threats and sustained abuse. Full detail from the interview is available via the Motorsport.com interview, with more context in the Autosport coverage of the same remarks.
For now, the two drivers have drawn a line under the Baku incident in private. Norris continues to push for wider change in how the sport handles online abuse.
