Colapinto: accident and penalty on his Alpine debut at Imola
Franco Colapinto had a difficult baptism of fire in his first qualifying session with Alpine at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. After an accident at the end of Q1 in the Tamburello chicane, he also received a one-place grid penalty for leaving his garage prematurely.
For his first race with Alpine, Franco Colapinto experienced a tumultuous qualifying session at Imola during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The young 21-year-old Argentine, called up to replace Jack Doohan after only seven races, ended up in the wall at the end of Q1 and received a grid penalty.
Crash in qualifying
His first qualifying session at the wheel of the Alpine abruptly ended following an incident at the Tamburello chicane. In the final minutes of Q1, while trying to improve his lap time, the Argentinian took too much curb at the exit of turn 3, which caused a spin sending him into the gravel trap and then into the barriers.
Despite this crash, Colapinto had set the 14th fastest time before the interruption, which would have allowed him to advance to Q2. Unfortunately, his car was too damaged for him to participate.
The driver was then taken to the medical center for a routine check: Following the incident at the end of Q1, Franco was transported to the medical center for precautionary checks in accordance with procedure. He is fine, has been examined, and released, Alpine stated in a communiqué after the accident.
A complicated day
The Argentine had already encountered a problem earlier in this session. After the red flag triggered by the spectacular crash of Tsunoda, Colapinto had entered the fast lane of the pits before the official restart time.
The commissioners studied the incident and concluded it was an unintentional error related to a communication mix-up with his team. « The team representative stated that he had instructed the car to move forward slowly but not to be completely released. The driver misunderstood the instruction », the commissioners noted in their report.
Although unintentional, the infraction was nevertheless penalized with a grid position penalty. This decision recalls the similar incident involving the Mercedes during the qualifying in Bahrain.
Initially classified 15th, Colapinto will therefore start from the 16th position for his first Grand Prix with Alpine, allowing Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls to gain a place. The French team has given him five races to prove himself, after his nine Grand Prix races with Williams last season.
This day was also difficult for Ferrari, whose two drivers, Leclerc and Hamilton, were eliminated in Q2 in front of their Italian fans, while Oscar Piastri on McLaren snatched the pole position ahead of Verstappen.
