Franco Colapinto receives apology after last-minute heartbreak at US GP
Franco Colapinto has impressed in his short stint in F1.
Esteban Ocon has said “sorry” to Franco Colapinto for wiping out his US GP bonus point, but he had to do what he had to do.
Colapinto has turned heads in the F1 paddock since making his F1 debut with Williams at the Italian Grand Prix as Logan Sargeant’s replacement, the Argentine scoring five points so far to make himself a contender for the Sauber/Audi F1 2025 vacancy. However, his tally could have been six, though Ocon made sure it was not.
Esteban Ocon had to cost Franco Colapinto fastest lap point
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock
Colapinto was on course to score a point in P10 and a further point for setting the fastest lap of the race, but Alpine driver Ocon would snatch away the fastest lap to deny Colapinto, and more importantly Williams, that point in the battle to avoid a P9 finish in the Constructors’ Championship.
Ocon felt sorry for the 21-year-old, but stressed he had a duty to do what was in the best interests of his team.
Since Ocon finished P18, he did not score the point for himself as a driver must finish in the top 10, but he cost Williams that point, the Grove outfit on 17 while Alpine are in P9 in the Constructors’ Championship standings on 13.
Telling the media, including PlanetF1.com, that his US GP was “compromised” after a hit from Colapinto’s Williams team-mate Alex Albon at the start, Ocon added: “Nice to recover a few positions, two or three, but yeah, we were not going to be in contention for anything special there.
“So yeah, the only thing at the end was to recover the fastest lap, get it away from Williams, from Franco, and we managed to do that successfully.
“It’s a battle for everything in the end and a point is a top-10 finish, so it is very important. Sorry to him, because he deserved it to be fair.”
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Colapinto had already been in the headlines in Austin after an awkward Martin Brundle snub as the Sky F1 presenter tried to secure their first chat during his iconic grid walk segment.
But Colapinto moved to clarify the situation ahead of the Mexican GP, saying it “wasn’t a great moment to speak to camera” though expressing his respect for Brundle, who made the podium nine times as an F1 driver.
“There isn’t much of a story,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com.
“I spoke with Williams, I don’t have much experience on this topic of first having to go to the grid and then waiting there for 30 minutes, jumping out of the car, walking and moving around and everyone wants to do interviews.
“I have been quite focused for the races and Connor [Bean, Williams press officer], he has been really helping me not do interviews on the grid, not on the grid, but in the paddock and all those things and being focused on what I have to do – which is driving first.
“Martin, of course, he’s been extremely massive – a mega, mega, mega driver and he left a legacy in the sport as well.
“He never did any interview [with] me and it was, at least for me, not a great moment to be speaking to the camera.
“I was going to the national anthem, I was very late, and, yeah, I was focused on the race.
“I was focused on driving, and I was just… I didn’t want to speak too much.
“I love speaking now and when I jump out of the car but, when I am going to the race, I try to be a bit more into it and not doing interviews.”
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