Overview
- During the Safety Car relaunch in Baku on Saturday, Franco Colapinto locked his front wheels, ran wide into turn 1 and hit team‑mate Pierre Gasly, a chain reaction that also put Lando Norris out of the race.
- Race stewards judged Colapinto 'total or predominantly responsible' and converted an unserved 10‑second penalty into a five‑place grid drop for his next event under FIA procedure B1.9.6(e).
- Colapinto apologised on team radio and in interviews, saying he 'blocked completely', while Gasly expressed anger at the lost points and Norris demanded at least a one‑race suspension for such restart incidents.
- The crash removed both Alpine cars from the points and cost the team at least seven championship points, ended Colapinto’s long streak of consecutive finishes, and left Alpine facing internal tension and repair costs.
- Relaunches compress the field and leave tyres and brakes cold, which raises the risk of late braking errors; the episode is renewing calls for clearer stewarding and possible superlicence or race‑ban sanctions if repeat dangerous restarts continue.