Norris ‘immensely’ frustrated with Azerbaijan Grand Prix calling for Colapinto ban.

McLaren’s defending world champion, Lando Norris, claims his crash with the Alpine pair put an ‘immensely frustrating end’ to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, calling for a Franco Colapinto ban. 

Feature image credit: McLaren Racin

Norris, and McLaren, will leave Baku pointless as both their drivers failed to score points at the Azerbaijan GP. 

This came after Oscar Piastri made a mistake late on in the race, dropping out of podium contention and to the back of the field, and Norris was caught up in the crash between the two Alpine drivers. 

On the first safety car restart, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto locked up into the first corner and hit his teammate, Pierre Gasly, who slid into the side of Norris – retiring all three cars. 

Norris said he was ‘extremely disappointed’ having his race ended by ‘being taken out.’ However, the defending world champion also criticised the cars lack of performance which hindered their ability to fight for the win. He said:

Franco Colapinto hit with five-place grid penalty after Azerbaijan Grand Prix crash

“An immensely frustrating end to the weekend. We had been struggling with straight-line speed all weekend, but despite the car’s lack of performance in that area, we were still on for a good haul of points, all of which are always valuable.

“However, to have my race ended by being taken out is extremely disappointing. There’s nothing you can do when you’re a passenger in an incident like that. 

“It’s a shame this is how the race ended for me and the team.”

Following the incident, the defending world champion was heavily critical of Colapinto and his crash with Gasly and himself, at the end of the chain. 

In reports, Norris had suggested the FIA should hand out bans for those incidents, calling it ‘careless.’ He, and McLaren’s Team Principal, Andrea Stella, confirmed they lost ‘a couple of parts’ of their recent upgrades in the incident. 

Briatore slams Colapinto after Azerbaijan Grand Prix crash with Gasly

As reported by the BBC, Norris said: 

“The FIA should be more strict and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff.

“It’s careless from people. It costs a lot of money. All my parts are in the bin now, so people should just get banned for this kind of driving. (They) don’t deserve to be in Formula 1.

“If you cause a crash on a restart like this, yeah, you should have at least a one-race ban.”

Having left Baku without any points, it means his gap to Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli has been extended to 116 points with eight races left to go, at the time of writing. 

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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.

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.