Colapinto, penalized with 10 seconds, ends up outside the points

Franco Colapinto (Alpine), who had crossed the finish line eighth in the Mexico City Grand Prix, the nineteenth of the Formula One World Championship, held this Sunday at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez He was penalized after the race with ten seconds, so he finished fifteenth at the end.

The 23-year-old Argentine received the sanction, after the race concluded, for having violated the action protocol while the yellow flags were waving, which is why he lost seven places in the final classification of the race.

“It was a very bitter ending, after what had been a pleasant feeling to return to the points again after a series of races without points,” commented Colapinto, who, despite the sanction, remains twelfth in the championship, with 27 points.

“I apologize to everyone on the team for what happened while the yellow flags were flying.“said the Argentine, whose best result since competing in Formula One is the sixth place he achieved in the last Canadian Grand Prix, held at the end of May at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal.

“While it is difficult to understand why, it was my mistake in the car. I feel that, in general terms, it had been a very well-executed race by the team in difficult circumstances; but, unfortunately, due to an infringement during the yellow flags, we were penalized and we lost the points that we deserved to add,” commented Colapinto, whose teammate, the Frenchman Pierre Gasly, received the same penalty as him and went from tenth place with which he had crossed the finish line to the seventeenth place he occupies in the final classification of the race.

“I want to give my big congratulations to (Italian Andrea) Kimi (Antonelli, from Mercedes, new world champion). He really deserves it, after the season he has completed. Now he joins that list of great champions; and I am happy for him,” said the Argentine in reference to the youngest winner of the competition in history.

His teammate, the Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who had been tenth, suffered the same penalty, for the same reason, as the driver from Pilar (Buenas Aires) and finished seventeenth.

The sanctions of the two Alpine drivers mean that the Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), who had been eleventh, concluded the Mexico City Grand Prix in ninth position.

Likewise, and also due to the sanctions of both Alpine, the Japanese Ryo Hirakawa, Haas replacement for the Frenchman Esteban Ocon, rises to tenth position and scores a point in his first race as a Formula One driver.