Acosta reveals lost bet sparked his viral awkward encounter with Colapinto in Barcelona paddock

MotoGP rider Pedro Acosta has lifted the lid on the viral video that swept social media during the Spanish Grand Prix, revealing that a lost bet was behind his brief, bewildering encounter with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto in the paddock at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The clip, which spread rapidly among both MotoGP and F1 audiences, showed Acosta approaching Colapinto while the Argentine was signing a shirt. Colapinto, riding his scooter toward Alpine’s hospitality area, barely reacted — prompting widespread speculation that he had failed to recognise the KTM rider, or had simply mistaken him for a fan.

Speaking during media day at the Czech Grand Prix in Brno, Acosta set the record straight. “To tell you the truth, the thing with Franco Colapinto came from a bet that I lost early in the morning,” he told DAZN Spain, laughing. “So I went over to find him and had to say something stupid.”

The Spaniard explained that he walked up to Colapinto purely to complete the dare. “So I said to him: ‘Mate, great that you came,’” Acosta recalled. “And I think he was signing a shirt and didn’t really connect what was going on.”

That momentary disconnect was enough to ignite a wave of online commentary, but Acosta insisted the exchange ended on far warmer terms than the footage implied. “Then he said: ‘Ah, man. The Shark, The Shark,’” Acosta added with a laugh, referencing his own well-known nickname.

Acosta also used the media day to speak about his closest connection inside Formula 1: McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. The 22-year-old said the two first met at a commercial event through a shared sponsor, and that the reigning world championship leader made an immediate impression.

“What surprised me about Oscar Piastri is that, socially, he’s on a completely different level to us, but he’s very normal,” Acosta said. He was equally complimentary about the welcome he received from the wider McLaren organisation. “At first it’s always difficult, honestly, but he has always treated me really well. McLaren and Oscar treated me very well in Formula 1.”