Franco Colapinto hit with further penalty after Azerbaijan calamity

Franco Colapinto has been handed a five-place grid penalty for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, but avoided penalty points for his calamity in Azerbaijan. 

On the safety car restart in Baku, Colapinto locked up on the inside, and being "out of control" he collided with team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren's Lando Norris, forcing both into immediate retirement as he crawled back to the pits, costing Alpine a huge haul of points.

The Argentine then retired himself and was handed a 10-second penalty for causing a collision - the standard penalty - but was unable to serve it as he had already retired. 

In line with normal practice, this 10-second penalty has now been converted into a grid drop for Colapinto's next event.

This will be the Bahrain GP next weekend, which is being held in Malaysia at Sepang. He will drop five places from where he qualifies. 

Elsewhere, Colapinto avoided any more points on his superlicence, meaning his rolling tally for the 12-month period stays at four, with 12 required to trigger a one-race ban. 

The article continues below. 

Stewards decision in full

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 linient 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 FIA 2026 F1 Regulations.