Motor racing-F1 champion Norris says Colapinto should get a race ban after Baku crash

Formula One F1 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan - September 26, 2026 McLaren's Lando Norris in action during the race as Azadliq Square is seen in the background REUTERS/Jakub Porzycki

BAKU, Sept 26 (Reuters) - ⁠McLaren’s reigning world champion Lando Norris called for Alpine racer Franco Colapinto ⁠to be given a one-race ban for triggering a crash that took ‌him out of Saturday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Argentine locked up under braking as the field raced toward the first corner after a safety car restart.

Tyre smoking, he ploughed into teammate Pierre Gasly, who in turn ​collected Norris' McLaren.

The collision sidelined both Gasly and Norris ⁠on the spot.

“If you cause ⁠a crash on a restart like this, you should have at least a one-race ban,” ⁠said ‌Norris after chalking up his first retirement from a race since the Monaco Grand Prix in early June.

“It is just careless from people. It ⁠costs a lot of money, all my parts are in ​the bin now and ‌people should get banned.

“It is not driving that deserves to be in Formula ⁠One,” he added.

Colapinto ​initially continued before pulling into the pits to retire. He was given a 10-second time penalty but as he was already out that will now be converted into a five-place ⁠grid penalty at the next race in Malaysia on ​October 4.

The crash also cost Alpine crucial points, with Gasly and Colapinto both racing in the top 10 when the crash happened.

“I don’t think I really have words,” said ⁠Gasly. “I’m obviously very disappointed for all the guys.”

Colapinto was all apologies.

“Sorry to all of them,” he said.

“It shouldn’t happen and it was locking up and completely out of control so not a lot I could do,” the Argentine added.

Race winner George Russell had ​some sympathy for the 23-year-old, saying a ban would ⁠have been too harsh a step.

“I think, personally, race bans should come from drivers intentionally ​doing something very dangerous and very reckless,” said the ‌Mercedes driver.

Second-placed Max Verstappen agreed: “Not nice for ​anyone involved, right? But like George said, I think, yeah, a race ban probably is a bit much.”

(Reporting by Abhishek Takle; editing by Clare Fallon)

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一级方程式F1 - 阿塞拜疆大奖赛 - 巴库城市赛道，巴库，阿塞拜疆 - 2026年9月26日 迈凯伦车队的兰多·诺里斯在比赛中驰骋，背景是阿扎德利克广场。（路透社/雅库布·波尔齐茨基摄）

巴库，9 月 26 日（路透社）——迈凯伦车队的卫冕世界冠军兰多·诺里斯呼吁对阿尔卑斯山车队的弗朗哥·科拉平托处以一场禁赛的处罚，因为他引发的撞车事故导致诺里斯退出了周六的阿塞拜疆大奖赛。

安全车出动后，车队重新驶向第一个弯道，阿根廷赛车在刹车时锁死了轮胎。

轮胎冒着烟，他撞上了队友皮埃尔·加斯利，加斯利又撞上了诺里斯的迈凯伦赛车。

这次碰撞导致加斯利和诺里斯当场退赛。

“如果你像这样在重新发车时造成撞车事故，你至少应该被禁赛一场，”诺里斯在自 6 月初的摩纳哥大奖赛以来首次退赛后说道。

“这纯粹是人们的粗心大意。这损失了很多钱，我的所有零件现在都扔进了垃圾桶，这些人应该被禁止参与。”

他补充道：“真正配得上F1的不是驾驶技术。”

科拉平托最初继续比赛，但随后驶入维修站退赛。他被罚时10秒，但由于他已经退赛，罚时将改为在10月4日马来西亚举行的下一场比赛中从后排发车五位。

这次事故也让 Alpine 车队损失了关键积分，事故发生时，加斯利和科拉平托都在前十名之列。

“我真的不知道该说什么，”加斯利说。“我当然为所有队友感到非常失望。”

科拉平托不停地道歉。

“对不起，对不起他们所有人。”他说。

“这不应该发生，当时情况已经失控，我无能为力，”这位阿根廷人补充道。

比赛冠军乔治·拉塞尔对这位 23 岁的车手表示同情，称禁赛对他来说“太过严厉”。

“我个人认为，只有那些故意做出非常危险和非常鲁莽行为的车手才会被禁赛，”这位梅赛德斯车手说道。

排名第二的马克斯·维斯塔潘也表示赞同：“这对任何相关人员来说都不好，对吧？但就像乔治说的那样，我认为，禁赛可能有点过头了。”

（Abhishek Takle报道；Clare Fallon编辑）

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