Colapinto retains Alpine seat after Baku crash that eliminated Gasly and Norris

Franco Colapinto will keep his Alpine seat for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang despite triggering a multi-car accident at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku that eliminated team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris during a safety car restart, costing Alpine a potential double points finish.

Alpine boss Flavio Briatore’s terse post-race statement — in which he said he needed “time to reflect on it and consider what course of action should be taken” — had fuelled speculation that reserve driver Paul Aron could be called up as a replacement. Instead, Colapinto was flown directly to the team’s UK factory on an overnight charter and placed in the simulator in the early hours of the following morning.

The team framed the immediate sim session not as a disciplinary measure but as an acclimatisation strategy ahead of the time-zone demands of the Malaysian leg of the triple-header.

Speaking at Sepang on Thursday, Colapinto said a race ban had never genuinely been on the table. “Not really,” he said when asked whether substitution had been a possible outcome. “Actually, I went straight after the race to the sim. I was in the factory straight away, getting ready for the race here in Malaysia. Those things never change.”

The Argentine acknowledged the anger inside the garage but said the matter had been resolved quickly. “Of course, Flavio was angry and everyone in the team was angry. It’s not a nice situation to be in and even worse to be the one creating that situation. It’s the last thing that you want as a team. But we fixed it internally and they’ve been fully supportive — and willing to look forward very quickly.”

Data analysis conducted by Alpine after the race indicated the error was smaller in magnitude than the television images suggested. Colapinto had been travelling faster than usual approaching Turn 1 because the safety car period had prevented him from deploying energy on the preceding straight, leaving him carrying significantly more speed — reportedly 320-330 km/h — into a braking zone he would normally approach at a lower velocity.

“Touch the brakes 2-3% too much, you lock the front and you don’t stop,” Colapinto explained. “It’s quite simple. Everyone had a lock-up. It’s just in a point where you are running with much more speed — you suddenly have a lot of energy because you didn’t deploy.”

Colapinto still faces a five-place grid penalty for the Bahrain Grand Prix after stewards found him guilty of causing the collision in Baku.