Lando Norris says some drivers ’shouldn’t be in F1’ after Franco Colapinto sets off multi-car crash

Franco Colapinto accepted responsibility for the crash, describing it as a “big mistake”.  | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Lando Norris criticised the standard of some Formula 1 drivers after Franco Colapinto triggered a chain-reaction crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday, forcing the defending champion to retire.

The incident occurred at the opening corner shortly after a safety car restart. Colapinto locked up and hit Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, whose car was then forced into Norris’ McLaren and sent it into the barriers. Racing Bulls teammates Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson were also involved, with Lindblad’s car spinning Lawson.

“I just got taken out,” Norris told broadcaster Sky Sports. “There’s just some drivers that shouldn’t be in Formula 1, to be honest.”

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Colapinto accepted responsibility for the crash, describing it as a “big mistake” and offering “big sorry to both of them,” referring to Gasly and Norris.

The retirement leaves Norris 116 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli. His title defence has suffered further setbacks after Antonelli’s victories in Italy and Spain in recent weeks.

Colapinto was handed a 10-second penalty for causing the collision. As he failed to finish the race, the sanction could reportedly be converted into a grid penalty for next week’s race in Malaysia, which was branded as the Bahrain Grand Prix in the report.

Race winner George Russell and runner-up Max Verstappen did not believe Colapinto’s error warranted a race ban.

“I think safety-car restarts, cold tires, a very small mistake can have big consequences. From what I saw today, that’s what it looked like,” Russell said. “I think, personally, race bans should come from drivers intentionally doing something very dangerous and very reckless. I think it was unfortunate.”

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Alpine executive Flavio Briatore also apologised to Norris and McLaren after a disastrous outing for the team. He described Colapinto’s error as “a very poor move for a driver of his experience.”

“I want to take time to reflect on it and consider what course of action should be taken, so we can learn from it and avoid such a situation in future,” Briatore said.

The controversy adds to the scrutiny surrounding Colapinto, whose supporters have repeatedly faced criticism for directing online abuse at fellow drivers and race officials.