Bizarre elimination for Alpine in Baku qualifying as Franco Colapinto crashes out

Franco Colapinto crashed out of qualifying in Baku, metres away from where his teammate Pierre Gasly was loitering after sliding off at Turn 4.

Both Alpine drivers were eliminated from Q1 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with an error from Pierre Gasly coming just before Colapinto’s crash at the same corner.

Franco Colapinto crashes out in Q1

The Q1 session in Baku was marred by a record-breaking number of red flags, with Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg each hitting the barriers during Q1 – Albon doing so in a manner that caused his instant elimination, while Hulkenberg managed to extricate himself and resume with a damaged car.

Colapinto was another to be knocked out on the spot, as he lost control at Turn 4, right at the conclusion of the session.

Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly had turned into the same corner moments earlier and lost the rear of the car. Gasly kept it under control by aborting the corner and heading off into the escape area on the outside.

While sideways in the escape area as he tried to resume the track, Colapinto reached the corner and, being greeted by a white flag rather than yellows, kept up his push. Losing control in a similar fashion to Gasly, Colapinto couldn’t gather it up and slid into the barriers with what was a hefty impact.

Colapinto was knocked out in 16th place overall, with Gasly down in 19th.

The Argentine driver, who is aiming to retain his Alpine seat alongside his newly-confirmed teammate Gasly at the team next year, said he had been fighting an unpredictable car that wasn’t enjoying the gusts of intense wind around the Baku City Circuit when he explained the crash to the media afterward.

“There was no yellow [flag],” he said.

“It’s always a distraction when someone goes off in the escape road and you don’t know if it’s going to reverse, but, yeah, that doesn’t change the fact I lost the rear really aggressively and I don’t really know the reason at the moment, but I need to see data and understand why.

“It was very tricky, and probably a lot of wind there. I went into the corner and I lost the rear, completely. I don’t really know the reason for it.

“I guess it’s a lot of tailwind. I think it was something like 60kph, and when it hits you like that, it lifts the rear, and I almost lost the rear completely.

“So something similar to what happened to Pierre in front. But he went into the escape road, so I couldn’t really go there and avoid the crash, because he was still there.

“It was just tricky. I think there were still places that were a bit tricky to drive, quite unpredictable.”

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With Colapinto showing signs of improvement across recent races, he’s hopeful of continuing his largely upward momentum during Sunday’s race.

“So we need to focus on tomorrow. But there were some improvements,” he said.

“There were some things that were getting better through the weekend.

“We were, generally, just setting better lap times and more consistent during the day, and we found some better compromise for the low speed. But we now need to focus on tomorrow.”

As for Gasly, who didn’t comment on Colapinto’s crash as he said he hadn’t seen proper footage of it as it happened just out of his eyesight on track, the French driver apologised to his team for not delivering a lap when it mattered in Q1.

“I didn’t take that much risk. But, ultimately, I made a mistake, and I’m not happy with it,” he said.

“It was very difficult, especially that turn with the tailwind coming. But yeah, I need to close the lap, and unfortunately, I couldn’t do it.

“I just braked a tiny bit later and tried to turn in and lost the rear straight away, and then I had to go straight.

“I’m just sorry for the team, because in a session like that, I knew it was just important to get a lap on the board.

“At the same time, I know that we don’t just need a lap, we need a very good lap if we want to get to Q2, and it was unfortunate we couldn’t do it today.”

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