The Azerbaijan Grand Prix ended with a strong incident during the race restart. Franco Colapinto lost control of his Alpine, collided with Pierre Gasly, and the Frenchman's car ended up hitting Lando Norris's McLaren.
The episode occurred on lap 35, shortly after the Safety Car left the track following the retirement of Alex Albon's Williams. All three drivers involved ended up retiring from the race.
After the race, Norris criticized the level of penalties applied in Formula 1 and considered that there should be harsher punishments for those who cause accidents during a restart.
“If you cause an accident in a restart like this, you should receive at least a one-race suspension,” Norris stated to the media.
Lando Norris's appeal to the FIA
The Brit continued his questioning and focused on the need for the FIA to adopt a stricter stance regarding maneuvers of this kind.
“I think the FIA should be stricter and start imposing penalties for this kind of thing. It's simply a lack of care on the part of the people,” he expressed.
The maneuver not only resulted in the retirement of the three protagonists but also caused significant damage to the cars. In Norris's case, several parts of his McLaren had to be replaced after the impact.
“It costs a lot of money; all my parts are now in the trash. They should penalize people, because that is not the way of driving that deserves to be in Formula 1,” added the McLaren driver.
Norris was emphatic about the level of drivers
The race winner was George Russell, but the incident between Colapinto, Gasly, and Norris became one of the main focal points of the Azerbaijan GP.
The Brit questioned the maneuver again and pointed out that drivers must anticipate track conditions during a restart: “In Formula 1, I think drivers are expected to anticipate situations. The grip is going to be low; the tire temperature is low; they weren't even that cold. In Formula 1, we want to compete against the best drivers in the world, and when things like this happen, it's because [they] shouldn't be there.”
