FIA CONFIRM FRANCO COLAPINTO PUNISHMENT AFTER IMOLA GP QUALIFYING BREACH
Alpine driver Franco Colapinto has been hit with a one-place grid penalty for a breach during qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the FIA has confirmed.
Colapinto is making his first appearance of the F1 2025 season at Imola this weekend having replaced Jack Doohan at Alpine after the Miami Grand Prix earlier this month.
Franco Colapinto hit with one-place grid penalty after Imola GP breach
The Argentine suffered a huge accident in Q1 on Saturday, hitting the barrier after losing control on the exit of the Tamburello chicane.
Colapinto’s accident came moments after he entered the pit lane before the FIA communicated a restart time following the red flag for Yuki Tsunoda’s crash earlier in Q1.
The Alpine driver has been given a one-place grid penalty as a result.
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The FIA’s verdict read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 43 (Franco Colapinto), team representative and reviewed video, team radio and in-car video evidence and determined as follows:
“The team representative stated that he gave the instruction for the car to creep out but not be fully released. The driver misunderstood the instruction and entered the fast lane before the re-start time was officially confirmed in breach of the Race Director’s event notes.
“Once this was done, it was too late to reverse course and the team instructed the driver to proceed down the pit lane.
“The team argued that there was no sporting advantage gained in this case as there was sufficient time remaining for other teams to perform their run plans as this was the start of the session.
“The team representative and the driver apologised for the inadvertent breach.
“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.”
Colapinto’s one-place penalty mirrors the punishment handed to Mercedes drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli for the same offence during qualifying at last month’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
More on Franco Colapinto and Alpine from PlanetF1.com
Colapinto’s grid drop comes after Doohan was spotted in the Imola paddock in his new role as Alpine’s reserve driver.
Alpine confirmed upon the announcement of Colapinto’s promotion that Doohan will remain ‘an integral part of the team’ despite losing his race seat, with the Australian regarded as the team’s ‘first-choice reserve driver’ in the event of Colapinto or Pierre Gasly being ruled out.
PlanetF1.com understands that Doohan arrived at Imola on Saturday morning after supporting Alpine’s efforts from the team’s simulator at Enstone on Friday.
The Australian posted an image of himself in the simulator to Instagram’s story function, which allows images and clips to be seen for a maximum of 24 hours.
Doohan is expected to perform standard reserve driver duties from trackside at Imola, observing and supporting the team and contributing where appropriate.
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2025-05-17T16:42:53Z