Colapinto receives 10-second penalty for yellow flag infringement
- Kavi Khandelwal
- 45 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Franco Colapinto has been handed a 10-second post-race time penalty following the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, dropping the Alpine driver from eighth to tenth and costing him four championship points.
The stewards issued the penalty at 19:04 local time on Sunday, confirming that Car 43 failed to slow for a single yellow flag at 15:38 during the race. The incident was deemed a breach of Article B1.8.4 a. of the Formula One Regulations.
The penalty drops Colapinto from eighth to tenth and promotes both Racing Bulls drivers by one position, resulting in additional points for the Faenza-based outfit.
According to the stewards' document, officials reviewed positioning and marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car camera footage before reaching their decision.
The stewards acknowledged that Colapinto had slightly reduced speed before entering the yellow flag zone, but determined that he had not discernibly slowed within the relevant sector itself. The reaction, they concluded, was insufficient to comply with the regulations. The penalty was placed at the lower end of the applicable scale on those grounds.
Colapinto also receives one penalty point on his superlicence. He now sits at two penalty points for the 12-month period, with a prior point on his licence earned for pushing a driver off the track at the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix.
The timing is a bitter outcome for the Argentine, who had turned in one of his stronger drives of the season. Starting from thirteenth on the grid, Colapinto capitalised on the opportunities available on a demanding track — where surface temperatures reached 51 degrees — to climb into the points.
Despite describing his car's behaviour as "a disaster" during Saturday's qualifying, he managed his race to what looked like a fourth-place finish within the team, with teammate Pierre Gasly crossing the line seventh.
Lewis Hamilton took victory for Ferrari ahead of George Russell and Lando Norris, with championship leader Kimi Antonelli retiring from the race with an electrical failure.
The result means Colapinto leaves Barcelona with three points less than he had earned on the road. Alpine, who had Pierre Gasly finish seventh, will still take points from the weekend but will rue the loss of additional scoring from their second driver.
