Franco Colapinto's Azerbaijan Grand Prix ended in disaster on lap 36, when the Alpine driver locked his brakes into Turn 1 during a safety car restart and ran deep on the inside line, colliding with team-mate Pierre Gasly.
The impact pitched Gasly into the path of McLaren's Lando Norris, and all three cars were retired on the spot.
The stewards handed Colapinto a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision. Because the Argentine had already retired and could not serve it during the race, the sanction was converted into a five-place grid penalty for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
The stewards found Colapinto wholly or predominantly at fault, ruling that standard restart leniency did not apply since no other driver contributed to the incident. No penalty points were added to his Super Licence.
RacingNews365 asked its readers whether Colapinto had been given a fair penalty for the Baku incident.
Almost 36 per cent of respondents believe the sanction was appropriate.
But the largest share of voters, almost 46 per cent, felt the Alpine driver should have faced something harsher. Within that group, 29 per cent thought a race ban would have been the correct call, while the remainder simply wanted a stiffer punishment than the five-place grid drop.
The remaining 18 per cent went the other way, arguing the penalty was too severe given the circumstances of the restart.
The full poll result can be viewed below.
Was Franco Colapinto served the right penalty at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix?
| Option | % |
|---|---|
| Yes - A five-place grid penalty is right | 35.77% |
| No - He should have received a race ban | 28.59% |
| No - He should have been demoted more than five positions | 17.18% |
| No - It was a racing incident, he should not have been penalised | 11.55% |
| No - It should have just been a three-place grid penalty | 6.90% |
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on the Azerbaijan GP but also look ahead to F1's return this weekend to Malaysia! Rumours linking Christian Horner with a return to the sport is a major talking point.
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