Colapinto fumes after Dutch GP penalty: ‘Quite unfair’, explains move | OneFootball

Franco Colapinto, Alpine’s Argentine driver, expressed his frustration over the harsh penalty that ruined his race at the Dutch GP, where he finished 14th at the Zandvoort Circuit.

The driver from Pilar had made a spectacular start and moved into the points-paying positions (10th), amid the chaos caused by Max Verstappen’s heavy crash. However, the stewards handed him a drive-through penalty for passing Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) under yellow flags, which seriously hurt his chances (he was also given two penalty points on his super licence).

As a result, on lap nine, shortly after the race resumed, Colapinto was forced to come into the pits and dropped from 10th to 20th. “It compromised my whole race. I had no speed in the corners. It made the whole race difficult for me. I had a great start, a great first lap. It’s a shame how it ended and how it affected our race,” he said.

“I think it’s pretty unfa… (Editor’s note: he stopped himself from saying ‘unfair’) Very harsh, extremely harsh given the conditions. Even though the rules are the rules, there can be some flexibility,” he added in an interview with ESPN.

In that regard, he explained his move on Tsunoda. “It was much more dangerous to slam on the brakes on the straight and not complete the overtake I was already making when a yellow flag came out very late than to do what I did,” he said. And he concluded: “I think it was quite unfair. They could be more flexible. The rules are written, but sometimes a bit of judgment is missing. We’ll work to come back stronger at Monza.”

Arvid Lindblad was also hit with an identical decision for the same kind of infringement. For the Argentine, the penalty meant dropping to the back and losing much of what he had built in a promising start at Zandvoort.

The driver from Pilar suffered the penalty and finished 14th in the race. Lando Norris (McLaren) won the Dutch GP, followed by Kimi Antonelli and George Russell (both Mercedes).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.