Franco Colapinto apologises to Pierre Gasly after Turn 1 restart mistake
Alpine had built one of their strongest weekends of the season, with Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly running P7 and P10 and giving the team a real shot at the kind of points that matter in a tight fight with Racing Bulls further down the standings. Then the safety car came out, and at the restart it fell apart in an instant.
Colapinto locked up heading into Turn 1 and lost the car completely, collecting his own teammate in the process and ending both their races. He didn't try to explain it away. "A bit of disappointment for itself, for the team, and just a big sorry to all of them, to the factory, to Pierre [Gasly], of course. Took him out, so yeah, really disappointed," he said.
"We're both in a good position on the score points, so it was a big day for the team, and yeah, a big mistake. I'm just, you know, a big sorry, it shouldn't happen. I was locking up and completely out of control, so not a lot I could do. We move on to the next one and try to score points again."
Gasly, for his part, wasn't interested in dwelling on blame. Asked how much it hurt to lose a result like that, he admitted he didn't have an answer worth giving. "I don't think I really have words, and I don't need the words now. We'll manage it together as a team. I'm obviously very disappointed for all the guys, and in P7 and P10 it was a very good race, good pace. Honestly, I have no idea how to answer your question. I've got to move on."
That pace was the real story of Alpine's weekend before Turn 1 took it away. Gasly had been closing in on Lewis, running three seconds behind Lando Norris and holding a cushion of around fifteen seconds over the rest of the midfield when the safety car appeared.
There was a bitter irony to the timing. "The car, honestly, this weekend has been feeling amazing, so I'm very happy even in the race," he said. "I was in the car, I saw the gap, and I don't know why, but even with everything under control I somehow knew something was going to happen. The safety car I needed last week didn't happen. Unfortunately it happened this weekend, and it ruined our chances. But we'll just move on and keep the good pace."
Norris was also caught up in the same restart, but for Alpine the loss cuts differently: a car finally quick enough to bank a genuinely good result, undone in the space of one corner.
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