Explained: Why was Franco Colapinto given a one-place grid penalty after the F1 Imola GP qualifying
Franco Colapinto received a one-place grid penalty for entering the fast lane during Saturday's qualifying. The Alpine driver, who crashed out of the session, ended his day in P15. However, after his penalty, he will start Sunday's race from P16.
Colapinto is driving for Alpine after the French team decided to bring him in place of Jack Doohan. As the Argentine driver started his race weekend alongside Pierre Gasly, he had a far from ideal outing in the qualifying.
The former Williams driver qualified for Q2, thanks to his superior Q1 timing. However, he had an unfortunate end to his session. Nearing the end of Q1 on Saturday, Colapinto lost control of his car and ended up on the fence. However, before his last flying lap attempt of Q1, the Alpine driver breached a regulation, for which he was given a grid penalty.
Citing this, the FIA released a statement that held Alpine and Colapinto guilty and imposed the punishment. Here's what the statement read:
"The Stewards consider that this breach was inadvertent but it did require a sporting penalty to be imposed. However, as the breach was unintentional and this did not result in any sporting advantage, we decided to impose a one position grid penalty. A similar breach in different circumstances, could entail a more severe sporting penalty, in future."
As per reports, Alpine argued that they did not receive any sporting advantage by entering the fast lane before the restart time. As a result, the F1 governing body did not impose a heavy penalty, and let them pass with a one-place penalty.
Franco Colapinto seemed confident ahead of his first race weekend with Alpine
Franco Colapinto, who replaced an underperforming Jack Doohan, spoke about being comfortable and confident ahead of the 2025 Emilia Romagna GP. Colapinto, speaking about his outing with the A525, said:
"Still a lot to work [to do] with the car set-up and with the tools as well with the settings, but I’m starting to feel a bit more comfortable in the car. Still a lot of things to learn and to get used to it but, yeah, building up slowly, and I think by the end I was starting to be a bit more competitive."
Colapinto is set for five races with Alpine, which started at Imola. As per this contract, he will race for the French team till the Austrian GP in June this year.