Franco Colapinto gets one-place grid penalty for Emilia-Romagna GP
17th May 2025Alpine’s Franco Colapinto has been slapped with a one-place grid penalty for joining the fast lane at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, before a confirmed start time was given during qualifying.
Feature image credit: Alpine F1
Colapinto found himself in hot water with the stewards during qualifying for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix as he was the only driver to enter the pit lane’s fast lane before the confirmed restart time was given.
This followed the red flag stop, which was brought out thanks to Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, who crashed early on during Q1 in qualifying.
It was the second time this type of incident had occurred, after the two Mercedes fell foul of it in Bahrain in April. Whilst the stewards had warned of severe punishments for future incidents, Colapinto has been given a one-place grid penalty for the Grand Prix, on Sunday.
The stewards heard from Colapinto and his team representative, having been summoned, and they reviewed video, team radio and in-car video evidence.
It was reported that Colapinto was ordered to creep out into the pit lane, but not be fully released. It was determined that the driver had misunderstood the instruction and re-entered the fast lane before an official restart time was given.
Whilst this was found to be a breach of the Race Director’s event notes, the team representative and Colapinto apologised for the infringement.
Alpine reportedly argued that no sporting advantage was gained, due to there being sufficient time left on the clock, and allowed others to complete their qualifying runs.
In the stewards’ conclusion, they said:
“The Stewards consider that this breach was inadvertent but it did require a sporting penalty to be imposed. However, as the breach was unintentional and this did not result in any sporting advantage, we decided to impose a one position grid penalty.
“A similar breach in different circumstances, could entail a more severe sporting penalty, in future.”
As such, despite making it into Q1 after crashing his car, it means Colapinto will now start the Emilia-Romagna GP in 16th, swapping positions with Liam Lawson, who will now start 15th on the grid.
The race is set to get underway on Sunday at 3pm local time (2pm BST).
Read more Formula 1 here:
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- Oscar Piastri claims pole for F1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
- Piastri fastest as Hadjar crashes in Emilia-Romagna GP FP2
- Oscar Piastri fastest in Emilia-Romagna GP Practice 1
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
