F1 star breaks silence after Jeremy Clarkson comments cause controversy

F1 star Franco Colapinto has responded to those controversial comments made by Jeremy Clarkson regarding his nationality at last weekend's US Grand Prix.

Clarkson was a guest of Colapinto's team, Alpine, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, but well and truly put his foot in it on Saturday in an interview with Sky Sports.

Colapinto took a 10-place penalty for the race in Texas due to changes to his power unit, and speaking to Simon Lazenby, Naomi Schiff and Martin Brundle, Clarkson joked that Colapinto had received the punishment 'for being Argentinian'.

"Franco's got a grid penalty... for being Argentinian...probably," Clarkson said.

"Well, I'd give him one for that. But anyway, that’s just because of what happened when we went there," Clarkson added, referring to a trip to Argentina he and the Top Gear team made in an episode that was aired in 2014, when they were forced to flee the country under police escort after a license plate sparked local anger.

The plate, which read 'H982 FKL' was seen as a reference to the Falklands War, though Clarkson later claimed it was just a coincidence.

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Franco Colapinto responds to Jeremy Clarkson

Though Clarkson was making a joke, they caused plenty of controversy over the weekend, with some failing to see the humour at all in what he had said.

Alpine were forced to come out and release a strong statement distancing themselves from Clarkson's words, for example, while Colapinto's manager slammed them as 'completely unacceptable' and 'malicious'.

Speaking to the media after Sunday's US GP, where he finished P21 and suffered a DNF, Colapinto had his say.

“Of course, it's nothing to do with the team,” he said in the media pen. “He did an interview on his own, it's nothing related to the team. I think he's always been kind of joking; I don't really know him, but they told me.

“I didn't see too much of what he said, but I heard that Jamie [Campbell-Walter, Colapinto’s manager] put something on social media.

“I guess, just try to focus on ourselves. I try to improve the situation; of course, it kind of needs help from a lot of people, not just from me. We'll see how we end up, but yeah, not the best, I guess.”

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