Norris apologises to Colapinto and retracts race-ban call after Baku pile-up fury

Lando Norris has apologised to Franco Colapinto and withdrawn his call for the Alpine driver to be banned, two days after a lap 36 restart crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku eliminated both men along with Colapinto’s team-mate Pierre Gasly.

Colapinto locked up into Turn 1 on the restart of the Baku street circuit race, triggering a pile-up that destroyed Norris’s McLaren and ended what had been a promising afternoon for the reigning world champion. Speaking immediately after the race, a visibly angry Norris pulled no punches.

“I’ve not seen it. I just got taken out. I think the FIA should be stricter and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff,” Norris said. “It’s careless from people. It costs a lot of money. All my parts are in the bin now. People should just get banned, because that’s not driving that deserves to be in Formula 1.”

Norris also dismissed the suggestion that the notoriously slippery Baku surface offered any mitigation. “Grip is going to be low. Tyre temps are low, they weren’t even that low. In Formula 1, we want to be against the best drivers in the world, and when stuff like this happens, it’s because [they] shouldn’t be there.”

With two days to reflect, Norris took a markedly different tone. Posting on social media, he confirmed he had already reached out to Colapinto directly before making his apology public.

“After the race, I sent Franco a message apologising for the comments I made that I simply should not have said,” Norris wrote. “I know better and emotions were running high but that is not an excuse, it was wrong of me. I’ve made mistakes of my own over the years and I know this is very much a part of racing and fighting on the limit. Me and Franco came to a good understanding, are still good friends and are both excited to get back racing this weekend.”

The apology comes after Norris’s initial outburst was widely reported and contributed to a fresh wave of online abuse directed at Colapinto, an issue that has repeatedly overshadowed the Argentine’s F1 career since his debut season.

Colapinto himself accepted responsibility for the incident, describing it as a “big mistake”. Alpine team principal Flavio Briatore was also left frustrated by the crash, which cost the Enstone outfit a potential double points finish with both of its drivers eliminated.