Franco Colapinto and Arvid Lindblad pulls up the FIA stewards on extremely harsh drive-through penalty in F1 Dutch GP aftermath Max Verstappen’s crash.
Alpine’s Colapinto was behind Racing Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, while Racing Bull’s Lindblad was behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly at the start of F1 Dutch GP at Circuit Zandvoort, when out just in front of them in the final corner.
What happened with Colapinto and Lindblad in F1 Dutch GP
All four took evasive action, as Lindblad went through on Gasly taking the outside line, with Colapinto doing the same behind on Tsunoda. They were immediately pulled up for ‘overtaking under yellow flag’, as the race was red-flagged to clear the debris stricken on the track.Colapinto was also pulled up for ‘speeding under yellow’. Just at the re-start, both the Argentine and Lindblad were handed a drive-through penalty for their moves. In fact, the FIA stewards noted that they were a touch lenient for overtaking under double yellow.
Normally, it is a 10s stop and go penalty, but considering the incident and debris, they h. This dropped them both to the back of the pack, as Colapinto had another 10s time penalty for , to .
The former has four penalty points against his name, while the latter has two after the race. Both had similar view regarding the incident. They felt it was extremely harsh from the FIA stewards to hand them drive-through. They felt they did what they had to and it was purely co-incidental.
Colapinto explains his side in F1 Dutch GP
Colapinto noted that he was only finishing an overtake move he started before the yellow flag and the sudden slowing from Tsunoda meant that even if he aborted the move, it was completed. There was nothing he could have done to avoid it in those circumstances.“Yeah, I mean, it’s just the drive-through that compromised the whole of our race, I think I did a good start, and I was up there in the points, and yeah, just tricky,” said Colapinto to media after F1 Dutch GP. “I think tricky to judge in those conditions when you are you’re fighting in lap one, making a move, and it’s all wet and damp, and in the camber, and there is parts of car flying around.
“Get a very, very late yellow flag when I was finishing my overtake, and it’s clearly much more dangerous to slam on the brakes and accelerate in the middle of the straight on the banking and on the wet when everyone was spinning. So it’s a very tricky one.
“I kind of feel that, even though the rules are written, they should be much more flexible, and they should have the criteria to also understand what’s safer or a bit more unsafe. If someone is going 30 km/h slower in the same part of the track, yeah, he’s being overtaken, and a yellow flag comes in, it’s not a lot you can do. It’s very tricky to react to that.
“So after that, the race was very compromised. I was just stuck there in the traffic and no no grip and no pace after. So, tricky. I think was a, again, a very strong start, a strong weekend in general, but quite unfortunate with these penalties,” summed up Colapinto.
Colapinto urges the FIA to be flexible
He knows it is the job of the stewards to look after such incidents, but it he felt it was extremely harsh. He felt the stewards could have taken into account that a sudden brake in that condition could have resulted in a dangerous situation – rather he took the better approach to slow as much.“I think I think generally they are being, I mean, with this, I feel like have been extremely harsh,” continued Colapinto, reiterating the flexibility point. “It’s tricky to, I mean, it’s their job. But it’s also it’s also their job to be a bit flexible and understand the situation.
“And what’s, I think especially what’s more dangerous than the other thing, when the grip is so low and the conditions are like that. To me, it’s just a bit harsh. I think for both, for me and Lindblad, especially drive-throughs. It’s extremely, it kills your race, it feels too much, but yeah, it is what it is.”
Lindblad explains his side, concurs with Colapinto
Much like Colapinto, Lindblad concurred with the Argentine. He felt he didn’t do anything wrong per se, but probably the FIA stewards wanted to set a precedent for future case, which is why they handed the penalty, rather than weighing up the offence as much.“Not the most enjoyable, I mean, we were in a really good position after the first lap,” said Lindblad. “I think the penalty’s a bit harsh. I think we can all agree it’s quite extreme, but fine. It is what it is. There’s no point speculating about it now, it’s done.
“I think the reality is you look at my onboard, I mean, it’s like what was actually so wrong? I don’t know, I felt like they were more setting a precedent today than actually weighing up the offense and having a penalty for it. So yeah, I don’t really know. I don’t want to say too much.
“Just a bit sad because I think that kind of ruined our race, but then after that we actually executed quite a strong one. I think there’s a few things we could have done better, but regardless, it was a very good race. I’m just sad not to get any points because I think, I and the team, we deserved that. And no doubt that without the penalty we would have been P8,” summed up Lindblad.
