Former McLaren mechanic and Formula 1 pundit Marc Priestley has called Franco Colapinto’s first‑turn collision at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix “outrageous”, yet he has rejected Lando Norris’s call for the Alpine driver to be given a race‑ban.
During a safety‑car restart in Baku, Colapinto attempted an inside move into Turn 1 but locked his tyres and struck his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly. Gasly’s car then hit Norris, eliminating both Alpine drivers and Norris from the race and costing the team a likely double‑points finish.
Norris initially demanded a race‑ban for Colapinto, later apologising for his comments. Speaking on the BBC’s *Chequered Flag* podcast, Priestley criticised the Argentinian’s manoeuvre while also rebuking Norris’s reaction.
“Colapinto’s move was outrageous. He came from so far back. He didn’t just get it a little bit wrong, which you can sort of accept. He got it miles wrong,” Priestley explained. “But that’s on him. He’s a young driver, and I saw him afterwards going around the entire team apologising with his tail between his legs.”
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images
Priestley added that a race‑ban is a sanction reserved for repeated infractions or a sustained decline in driving standards, noting that such discipline has been applied in the past. He believes the penalty Colapinto received—a 10‑second time penalty converted to a five‑place grid drop for the following Bahrain Grand Prix—is sufficient punishment for a single serious mistake.
“One incident like this, bad though it was, I think the penalty that he has come away with, which turned into a five‑place grid penalty for next week, probably suffices,” Priestley concluded.
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