Colapinto handed Sepang penalty for causing Baku F1 pile-up

Franco Colapinto has been given a five-place grid penalty for the Malaysian Grand Prix, following the pile-up he caused in today’s Formula 1 race at Baku.

The Azerbaijan GP was neutralised by the safety car when Alexander Albon crashed out shortly after mid-race, but Colapinto had a monumental lock-up on the inside at the restart. The Alpine driver careened into Pierre Gasly’s sister car, which in turn crashed into Lando Norris’ McLaren.

A livid Norris called for Colapinto to get a race ban – one should point out he did so before viewing a replay of the incident – but the stewards opted for a 10-second penalty, which they converted into a five-place grid drop for the Sepang race, given the offender failed to finish today’s event.

“The Stewards reviewed video, timing and in-car video evidence,” the stewards’ report read.

“Following the restart, COL approached GAS from behind into Turn 1. COL braked too late and entered the corner on the inside at a speed which did not allow him to make the corner in a controlled manner. He overshot the corner and made contact with the left-hand side of GAS, who then hit NOR and both cars retired.

“The Stewards considered that COL was wholly or predominantly to blame for the collision. Although the incident occurred at the first corner following the restart, there was no contribution from another driver which would justify applying the first-lap / [first-corner] more [lenient] approach.

“The standard penalty for causing a collision is a 10-second time penalty. As COL had retired from the Race and was therefore unable to serve the time penalty, the Stewards converted the penalty to a drop of 5 grid positions at the next Race in which the driver participates in accordance which Article B1.9.6.(e) of the FIA 2026 F1 Regulations.”

Meanwhile, the stewards have explained why they took no further action on Arvid Lindblad spinning his Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson at the exact same time – the reason being that incident was influenced by the Colapinto shunt.

“Following the restart, LIN and LAW approached Turn 1, with LIN in a three-car situation,” they wrote.

“Ahead of them, a collision occurred involving COL, GAS and NOR. That incident, together with COL locking his brakes, triggered a braking reaction among the cars immediately ahead of LIN. At the same time, LIN was positioned between cars on either side.”

“During the corner, LIN made contact with LAW. Having reviewed the positioning and movement of the cars involved, the Stewards determined that the contact was primarily the result of the restricted space available to LIN and the chain reaction caused by the incident ahead, rather than any action or error for which LIN could be considered wholly or predominantly to blame.

“The Stewards therefore considered this to be a typical first-corner incident following a restart, with no driver predominantly to blame.”

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– The Autosport.com Team