Lando Norris has issued a scathing criticism of Alpine driver Franco Colapinto, stating he does not deserve to be in Formula One and should face a ban. This follows an incident at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that led to Norris's McLaren being taken out of the race.
Norris was forced to retire from eighth place after Colapinto caused the accident, which also involved his teammate Pierre Gasly. The incident occurred during a safety car restart when Colapinto locked up his tyres and collided with Gasly, who then shunted Norris's car.
The McLaren driver, now 116 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli with eight races remaining, expressed his frustration. "I just got taken out. There are some drivers who shouldn’t be in Formula One," Norris said, adding, "If you cause a crash on a restart like this, you should have at least a one-race ban."
Colapinto apologised for the incident, stating, "I can be sorry to everyone. It’s been a big mistake of course. I just locked-up and then I was very out of control." Stewards issued Colapinto a 10-second penalty, which will be converted into a grid drop at the next race due to his retirement from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.