Franco Colapinto summoned by Australian GP stewards after Lewis Hamilton near-miss

An incident involving Franco Colapinto and Lewis Hamilton was investigated after the second practice session in Australia.

The Argentine driver was looked at by the FIA, following an unusual incident early in the afternoon session on Friday at Albert Park.

Franco Colapinto summoned after Lewis Hamilton Melbourne practice near-miss

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto headed off to see the stewards in Melbourne, following an incident involving the Argentine driver early in second practice.

Colapinto was summoned on the grounds of an alleged breach of FIA F1 Regulations Section B Article B1.8.5, pertaining to a case of “driving unnecessarily slowly, erratically, or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers”.

The Alpine driver had been driving through the final corner of the Albert Park circuit when he appeared to encounter an issue on his A526, with his car seeming to go into neutral and losing drive.

With his car slowing, Colapinto made his way down the main straight, but didn’t move off the racing line.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, powering along the straight at full speed, just spotted the nearly stationary Alpine in time to avoid a collision, with the British driver taking to team radio to say he had come across a car going “crazy slow”.

With the FIA stewards investigating the incident, a factor explored was whether Colapinto could have been expected to find a safe way to clear the racing line, given his struggles for forward momentum with his car.

The verdict reached by the stewards came after a meeting with the Alpine driver, as well as a team representative, with the decision taken that no further action was necessary.

More on the Australian Grand Prix

Honda sees Aston Martin vibration improvement after limited FP2 running

Why the Bahrain and Saudi Grands Prix face uncertainty amid Middle East tensions

The documentation revealed that Colapinto had explained that his car suffered a ‘false neutral’ as he was approaching the final turn and lost drive as he turned onto the main straight.

“While the team was giving him instructions over the radio to attempt to resolve the issue, [Colapinto] kept his car rolling slowly on the left of the main straight, having been instructed to do so by his team should he be unable to resolve the issue and the driver needed to stop the car,” the steward’s verdict said.

“As Colapinto approached the control line, he was caught by Hamilton.

“While Hamilton had a clear line of sight of Colapinto for some distance along the main straight, Hamilton was apparently surprised to find Colapinto moving so slowly on the racing line and had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

“Colapinto explained that he was watching his mirrors the whole time and knew that Hamilton was approaching.

“He said that he was instructed by the team to stay to the left because the Race Director’s Competition Notes (Emergency Exit Map) marks the exit point on the main straight on the left side of the track.

“He said that, if he had tried to move off the racing line when he had no drive, he could have created a more dangerous situation.”

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read Next: Toto Wolff plays down Mercedes pace after difficult Australian GP practice