Lando Norris releases statement after demanding F1 rival to be banned

Lando Norris, McLaren, Netherlands, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

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Lando Norris releases statement after demanding F1 rival to be banned

Norris was fuming with Colapinto

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Monday 28 September 2026 13:55

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F1 world champion Lando Norris has issued an apology after calling for a rival driver to be banned by the FIA.

Norris was outspoken following Saturday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix where he was forced to retire after being involved in a collision at a restart following a safety car.

However, the McLaren star was not at fault, with Franco Colapinto outbreaking himself into turn one on cold tyres, causing him to lock up which then saw him crash into his Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly, who could then do nothing but crash into Norris, causing all three cars to retire.

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Colapinto was given a 10-second penalty as a result of being at fault for the crash, which he was unable to serve in Baku and therefore will have a five-place grid drop at this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sepang track in Malaysia instead.

After the race, a fuming Norris called on F1's governing body the FIA to take stricter action, even calling for the Argentine racer to be banned.

He 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."

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Lando Norris released a statement on Instagram

Norris U-turn

But just two days after the incident, Norris has released a statement saying he apologised to Colapinto for his comments, reflecting on his own previous errors and that saying he had patched things up with the 23-year-old.

On his Instagram stories, Norris said: "Tough weekend overall in Baku and of course a disappointing and early end to the race.

"After the race, I sent Franco a message apologising for the comments I made that I simply should not have said.

"I know better and emotions were running high but that is not an excuse, it was wrong of me.

"I've made mistakes of my own over the years and I know this is very much a part of racing and fighting on the limit.

"Me and Franco came to a good understanding, are still good friends and are both excited to get back racing this weekend.

Have F1 drivers been banned for causing a crash?

F1 drivers have been given a one-race ban for causing a crash at the start of the race before.

Romain Grosjean triggered an incident at the start of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix after squeezing Lewis Hamilton into a wall at turn one, which then saw the Frenchman crash into Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso, with Pastor Maldonado and Kamui Kobayashi suffering damage too courtesy of a helpless Hamilton.

Grosjean was fined €50,000 and given a one-race ban at the following race at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.

We still await news of what punishment Alpine will hand out to Colapinto for what team boss Flavio Briatore described as "a very poor move" on Saturday.