Lando Norris demands one-race ban for Franco Colapinto after Baku crash

Lando Norris wants a one-race ban for Franco Colapinto after the Alpine driver caused a multi-car collision at a restart during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Norris had a tough afternoon in Baku where he lined up fifth on the grid before he was caught up in a restart incident triggered by the Argentinian.

Lando Norris calls for Franco Colapinto ban after Azerbaijan GP crash

Although the Briton made up a position off the line, he lost out to Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen as the Red Bull teammates powered past him.

Losing three more places, Norris was trying to recover when the Safety Car was deployed after Alex Albon binned his FW48 nose-first into the Turn 5 barrier.

The McLaren driver was one of the first to seize the opportunity for a free pit stop, but by the time racing resumed on Lap 36, the entire field had pitted.

Norris had a great run to Turn 1 on the restart and was closing in on the rear of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari when Colapinto came into the corner too hot and locked up.

The Alpine driver crashed into his teammate Pierre Gasly, who clattered into Norris, who was on his outside.

Norris’ race ended in the Turn 1 run-off area.

“I got taken out,” the reigning world champion told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media in Baku.

“Yeah, I don’t know. I think the FIA should be more strict and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff. It’s just careless from people. Costs a lot of money.

“All my parts are in the bin now, so yeah, people should just get banned because that’s not driving that deserves to be in Formula 1.”

Asked what his response would be if Colapinto only received a “small penalty” for the incident, Norris replied: “I’ve not seen it, but I mean if you cause a crash on a restart like this, you should have at least a one-race ban.”

But while Colapinto ended Norris’ race, the Briton didn’t make life easy for himself with two notable errors.

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A mistake at Turn 6 on Lap 18 allowed Hamilton to close in and take fifth place a few corners later, while a lock-up into the Turn 1 run-off area saw him drop behind Gasly and Kimi Antonelli.

The McLaren driver says while his MCL40 was lacking pace in Baku, his driving also wasn’t good enough.

“I had no chance out there with just the speed I had,” he said.

“I’m sure there were some things I wasn’t doing well enough in driving, and need to see what I can improve for next time.

“But same time, the speed that they came past me, it was impossible. So it was, yeah, pretty an impossible task.”

Norris remained fourth in the Drivers’ Championship on 186 points, 116 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

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