F1 team chief issues statement after driver IGNORED team orders

After one of their drivers ignored team orders at the United States Grand Prix, one Formula 1 team chief has confirmed they are set to carry out an internal investigation.

Alpine's F1 outfit released an official statement from their managing director Steve Nielsen in the aftermath of Sunday's race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, confirming that Franco Colapinto had disobeyed the team in overtaking his teammate Pierre Gasly late on in the race.

Initially, the Argentine driver had begun to put pressure on Gasly, but was told by the team to hold position.

However, Colapinto, who is currently fighting for his place in F1 next season and is yet to score a single point, pulled off the overtake on Gasly anyway to finish ahead of his team-mate for the sixth time this season.

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Alpine's official statement

In his statement, Nielsen said: "Today, like a lot of teams, we had to adapt our strategy based on the conditions and what we saw on track with the Hard tire not looking to be a favourable race tire.

"We gave the instruction for the drivers to maintain position as we were managing fuel with both cars and the added variable of the number of laps remaining with the leaders in close proximity.

"As a team, any instruction made by the pit wall is final and today we are disappointed that this didn't happen so it's something we will review and deal with internally."

Meanwhile, Colapinto himself kept the reaction short and sweet, stating: "It is something we will discuss as a team and learn from moving forwards."

Elsewhere, Pierre Gasly echoed a similar sentiment, although he talked in a broader manner: "We have many things to review as a team as it has been very difficult for us to be competitive on Sundays."

F1 next hits the track at the Mexican Grand Prix this weekend, where it will certainly be interesting to see if Colapinto faces any repercussions.

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