FIA announce Franco Colapinto punishment after crash chaos at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

The FIA has confirmed that Franco Colapinto has been handed a penalty for the next F1 race in Malaysia after causing a multi-car collision in Saturday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

It had been looking like a strong day for Alpine in Baku, with Pierre Gasly sitting in P7 and Colapinto in P10 when the safety car came in at the end of lap 35 following Alex Albon's crash, but disaster soon struck.

At the restart on lap 36, Colapinto massively misjudged his speed and braking into turn one, slamming into his team-mate Gasly, who, as a result, also smashed into Norris and his McLaren, who was down in P9 at the time.

All of the drivers were unharmed in the incident, but it meant all three cars were forced to retire, and it led to some pretty strong reactions.

"Oh my f*****g God. I cannot believe it, cannot believe it. So many f*****g points gone," Gasly screamed over the radio after the crash, while Lando Norris later called on the FIA to introduce race bans for such incidents.

F1 HEADLINES: Hamilton in turmoil as F1 star hit with double FIA punishment

FIA confirm Colapinto punishment after Azerbaijan GP crash

The crash was immediately noted by the race stewards, who the FIA have now confirmed handed Colapinto a 10-second time penalty for his part in the incident, which they deemed a breach of Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 2 d) of the FIA International Sporting Code.

However, because Colapinto did not finish the race, he will not receive his punishment this weekend. Instead, it will be converted into a five-place grid penalty for the next race - the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on October 4.

"The Stewards considered that COL was wholly or predominantly to blame for the collision," the FIA said. "Although the incident occurred at the first corner following the restart, there was no contribution from another driver which would justify applying the first-lap/first-corner more lenient approach.

"The standard penalty for causing a collision is a 10-second time penalty.

"As COL had retired from the Race and was therefore unable to serve the time penalty, the Stewards converted the penalty to a drop of 5 grid positions at the next Race in which the driver participates, in accordance with Article B1.9.6(e) of the FIA 2026 F1 Regulations."

Colapinto apologises

The penalty came after Colapinto fully held his hands up after the incident, apologising to his team, team-mate and Norris.

“I'm very disappointed with today's race and I'm really sorry to the team, to everyone at the factory, Pierre and Lando [Norris] of course, and to everyone who has been supporting us," Gasly said post-race.

"It was a big mistake on my side and it should not happen. I locked up with cold tyres, cold brakes, and was out of control.

"I know the team has done a good job all weekend with the performance of the car so I am really sorry for what happened, as we were in a good position to score double points.”

READ MORE: Lando Norris calls for FIA bans after Azerbaijan GP crash: 'Not driving that deserves to be in F1'

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