Franco Colapinto lamented his penalty in the Mexican Grand Prix: "It's a very bitter end"

What seemed to be the end of a positive day for Alpine turned into a new frustration. After Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly crossed the finish line within the points zone (8th and 10th respectively) at the Mexican Grand Prix, the penalties imposed by the FIA changed the results for both drivers and left the French team out of the Top 10.

Colapinto had finished eighth at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and managed to score points again after a series of challenging races. However, a 10-second penalty and one penalty point on his superlicense (he has 5 in 12 months [a driver receives a one-race suspension when reaching 12 points in that period]) for not sufficiently reducing speed during a simple yellow flag period dropped him to 15th place.

The infraction occurred after the incident involving Oscar Piastri and Arvid Lindblad, which required heightened precautions in that sector of the circuit. Once the decision of the stewards was known, the driver from Pilar did not shy away from his responsibility and acknowledged his mistake. "It's a very bitter end after what had been a good feeling returning to the points after a streak of races where I couldn't finish", he expressed in statements released by Alpine. He added: "I apologize to everyone on the team for what happened under the yellow flag. Although it's hard to understand, it's my mistake in the car".

On the other hand, he felt that the work done during the day deserved to end with a positive result. "I think it was a very well-executed race by the team under difficult circumstances, but unfortunately, due to an infraction, we received a penalty and lost the points we deserved", he stated.

Beyond the sanction, the Argentine highlighted the collective performance and the strategic decisions of the team during the race. "There were several restarts and safety cars, but I think as a team we managed it well and made the right decisions. That makes me proud, as the team made a great effort in the last races to address some of our recent issues, so I'm happy with our performance today, even though we lost our reward".

Gasly also lost points and acknowledged his mistake

The day did not end well for Pierre Gasly either. The Frenchman crossed the finish line in tenth place but received a Stop and Go (30 secondshe fell to 17th place and received two points on his superlicense.

Like his teammate, the French driver took responsibility for what happened and regretted having harmed Alpine's chances of scoring points in Mexico. "Ultimately, it has been a disappointing afternoon and a race where we did not capitalize on some opportunities. I apologize to the team for the yellow flag infraction. It was my mistake, which obviously prevented us from scoring points", he stated.

Gasly also explained that his performance was affected by various power issues. "I had a very good start, but then I lost power on the straight, which cost us several positions and forced us to recover in the midfield. We were back in the fight after the red flag, battling for points, but again we had power issues during the restarts", he detailed.

Looking ahead to the Brazilian Grand Prix, the Frenchman felt the team needs to analyze the issues to prevent them from recurring: "There are several aspects we need to review, as I believe that we could have been much higher if we hadn't had these problems. It hasn't been a good day for me. There's a lot to reflect on, but as a team, we look forward to São Paulo next weekend".

The frustration of Flavio Briatore over Alpine's result

For his part, Flavio Briatore also commented on the penalties and lamented that the work done by both drivers did not translate into points for the championship. First, the executive advisor of Alpine particularly valued the pace shown during the race, compared to qualifying, although he acknowledged his dissatisfaction with the outcome. "I'm happy with the performance and pace we showed in the race compared to qualifying, but not so much with the final result. After the penalties post-race, we leave Mexico City without points, which is a shame after both cars finished in the points", he analyzed.

The Italian also highlighted the individual performances of his drivers and, particularly, Colapinto's recovery after recent adverse results. "Franco had a very good and consistent race, something he needed after a streak of bad luck in the last races. Pierre also did well and had some power issues at the start, but did a good job recovering. Therefore, it's frustrating not to have achieved anything in this race", he concluded.

When Colapinto will race again

After this new setback, the Argentine driver will try to end his bad streak next week at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The action at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, commonly known as Interlagos, will kick off on Friday, November 6 with the first free practices and will conclude on Sunday, November 8 with the main race.

The native of Pilar has already had two races in Brazilian territory. The first was in 2024, when he raced for Williams, where he suffered a hard crash after driving over a puddle of water that caused him to lose control of his car. A year later, now with Alpine, he would cross the finish line in 15th place, mainly affected by the poor performance of his car.

Schedule for the Brazilian Grand Prix

Friday, November 6