Alpine F1 director Flavio Briatore was “extremely disappointed” by his team’s double retirement from the Azerbaijan F1 GP, criticizing Franco Colapinto for “a very bad decision” to eliminate teammate Peirre Gasly.
During a restart on lap 36, Colapinto locked his front tires on the dusty, low-grip interior of the Baku street circuit, crashing into the side of Pierre Gasly, knocking both drivers out of the race. McLaren driver Lando Norris was also picked up in the incident, which deprived Alpine of a likely double points finish.
Both Gasly and Norris were unhappy with Colapinto’s driving, with the latter even going so far as to ask the FIA to consider a one-race ban for careless driving.
Colapinto boss Briatore was also not impressed and did not hesitate to criticize the Argentine.
“Obviously I am extremely disappointed with the result of today’s race, knowing that we lost valuable points in the fight for the championship,” Briatore said in Alpine’s post-race press release.
“These kinds of incidents shouldn’t happen, especially when we were driving well with both cars in points position. I’m really sorry for the team and for Pierre who did a great job all weekend and my apologies also go to Lando and McLaren for spoiling their race.”
“I know that Franco took full responsibility for it, as he should; in fact, he braked far too late given the context of the race and the safety car restart. It was a very bad decision for a driver of his experience.”
Franco Colapinto, Alpine, Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Photo by: Alex Pantling / LAT Images via Getty Images
Briatore said he would consider next steps after the incident to avoid a future repeat. “I want to take the time to think about it and think about what course of action to take, so that we can learn from it and avoid a situation like this in the future,” the Italian said.
Colapnto’s mistake in Baku comes after the 23-year-old enjoyed his best form in F1 to date, earning him a new contract with Alpine for the 2027 season to remain alongside Gasly at the Enstone-based team.
Azerbaijan F1 GP Photos – Saturday
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