Overview
- Franco Colapinto’s late-braking restart in Baku caused a collision that removed both Alpine cars and also involved Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris.
- Race stewards converted an initial 10-second penalty into a five-place grid drop for Colapinto because he did not finish the Azerbaijan race.
- Colapinto flew to Alpine’s Enstone base for an early-morning simulator session to adapt to Sepang’s heat, humidity and layout ahead of the Bahrain-branded race at Sepang.
- Alpine published a social post featuring Colapinto and renewed its condemnation of online attacks on drivers, while Lando Norris later retracted his harsher comments and apologized after speaking with Colapinto.
- Teams have been locking in 2027 lineups and Alpine has confirmed Colapinto alongside Pierre Gasly, which leaves only a handful of driver seats open and keeps Colapinto’s place in the spotlight.