Colapinto brushes off Clarkson's Argentinian grid-penalty jibe after Austin retirement

Franco Colapinto played down Jeremy Clarkson’s controversial remark at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, telling reporters in the post-race media pen that the television presenter was “always kind of joking” and that the comment had nothing to do with the Alpine team.

Clarkson, a guest of Alpine’s at the Circuit of the Americas, told an interviewer on Saturday: “Franco’s got a grid penalty for being Argentinian. Probably. Well, I’d give him one for that. But anyway, that’s just because of what happened when we went there.” The remark referenced both Colapinto’s actual grid penalty for exceeding his power unit parts quota and, almost certainly, the 2014 Top Gear Patagonia special, in which a contentious licence plate was interpreted by local protesters as a reference to the Falklands War, forcing the crew to abandon filming.

Alpine moved quickly to distance themselves from the comment, issuing a statement that read: “We at Alpine are aware of the comments made by a team guest in a recent television interview in Austin. Franco is our driver and has our full support.”

Colapinto himself was measured when the subject was raised with him. “Of course, it’s nothing to do with the team,” he said. “He did an interview on his own, it’s nothing related to the team. I didn’t see too much of what he said, but I heard that Jamie [Campbell-Walter, his manager] put something on social media. I guess, just try to focus on ourselves.”

There was plenty else for Colapinto to focus on. His Austin race ended on lap 25 when contact with Arvid Lindblad in Turn 1 sent the Alpine into a spin and ultimately into retirement. Colapinto described being caught between Lindblad on the outside and team-mate Pierre Gasly emerging from the pits, leaving him sandwiched with nowhere to go.

“The whole sideboard and floor was broken,” he said. “A pity. I started from the back and then it really didn’t work from the start. I chose to do it on the hard tyre to see if we could do something interesting, but we couldn’t.”

The retirement was Colapinto’s third in four races, following the pile-up he triggered in Baku and a suspected driveline failure at a previous round. The 21-year-old is now looking to the Mexican Grand Prix to arrest the slide. “I’m looking forward to Mexico, to turn this around and not do the penalties and go back to finishing races,” he said.