Article

To news overview © XPBimages

Franco Colapinto has spoken of the "very dangerous" situation he faced at the start of the Australian Grand Prix, when he nearly crashed into Liam Lawson.

Not shown on replays of the start of the race, Colapinto had to swerve right at the last moment to avoid the slow-starting Racing Bulls machine having been unsighted by other cars.

The starting procedure had been changed ahead of the new season to allow drivers to prepare correctly, with the new procedures including a five-second period to spool up the turbo, but the lights, when illuminated when out almost instantly, something Charles Leclerc called "cheeky."

Colapinto went on to finish in 14th place after serving a stop/go penalty for a team member touching the car after the 15-second signal had been given, one place behind Lawson himself in 13th.

However, reflecting on the incident, the Argentine felt he was "really lucky" to avoid a serious incident.

"I almost had a massive crash with Liam as he got stuck on the grid, and I was really lucky to get through lap one," Colapinto told media, including RacingNews365.

"I was really, really lucky, and we know things can happen with these new cars, but the video shows it was very dangerous and quite sketchy.

"I am glad I got through that, but I hit the wall a little bit with my rear right, but generally, we struggled for pace this weekend, and we're were hoping for much, much better after Bahrain [testing].

"It was just a tough afternoon."

Check out footage of the incident here.