Norris calls for Colapinto ban after Azerbaijan crash ends both their races

Lando Norris called for Franco Colapinto to be handed a race ban after the Alpine driver’s restart error at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku eliminated both the reigning world champion and Colapinto’s own team-mate Pierre Gasly from the race.

On the lap 36 restart, Colapinto locked up on cold front tyres and slid into Gasly at Turn 1, with Norris caught up in the resulting tangle. All three drivers were forced to retire, compounding an already difficult afternoon for Norris, who had struggled for pace and made his own Turn 1 error earlier in the race.

“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 rejected any suggestion that the notoriously slippery Baku street circuit offered mitigating circumstances for the incident. “In Formula 1, I think you expect drivers to anticipate things. 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. If you cause a crash in a restart like this, you should have at least a one-race ban.”

Colapinto, who had been on course to score points alongside Gasly before the collision, was contrite in his post-race comments. “A big mistake,” the Argentinian said. “I locked up completely with cold tyres and cold brakes and was out of control completely. Not a lot to say more than sorry to the team, to Pierre of course, to all the factory. We’ve been working really hard to score points and I threw it away with that big mistake. I’m sorry to Lando as well.”

The incident drew the ire of Gasly too, with both Alpine drivers having been in a strong position before the restart. Whether F1’s stewards will act on Norris’s call for a ban remains to be seen.