Colapinto handed two Dutch GP penalties as Alpine driver and sponsor hit out at FIA stewards

Franco Colapinto was hit with two separate penalties during the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, effectively ending his points hopes and triggering sharp criticism from both the Argentine driver and a senior executive at Mercado Libre, his primary Formula 1 sponsor.

The first penalty came early in the race when Colapinto was in the process of overtaking Yuki Tsunoda as Max Verstappen crashed a few metres ahead, triggering yellow flags moments before a red flag halted the race entirely. Unable to abort the pass in time, Colapinto was handed a drive-through penalty by the stewards. Arvid Lindblad received the same punishment for a comparable move on Pierre Gasly.

“It was the drive-through that compromised the whole of our race,” Colapinto said. “I made a very good start and I was up there in the points. I saw a very, very late yellow flag when I was finishing my overtake, and it was clearly much more dangerous to slam on the brakes and accelerate in the middle of the straight, on the banking and on the wet, when everyone was spinning.”

The 23-year-old argued the stewards lacked the flexibility to weigh safety considerations against the letter of the regulations. “If someone is going 30km/h slower in the same part of the track, you’re overtaking them and a yellow flag comes in, there’s not a lot you can do,” he said. “I feel they have been extremely harsh. A drive-through kills your race. It feels too much.”

Later in the race, Colapinto collected a second infringement — a 10-second penalty for another yellow-flag violation — with the stewards also adding three penalty points to his superlicence.

The dual sanctions drew a public response from a senior Mercado Libre executive, whose company serves as Colapinto’s main commercial backer in Formula 1, adding a rare corporate dimension to what is typically an internal sporting dispute.

The controversy raises broader questions about how stewards apply yellow-flag rules in chaotic, wet-weather opening laps, where reaction times and visibility are severely compromised. Colapinto’s comments suggest he and his camp may pursue the matter further, though no formal appeal had been announced at the time of reporting.