Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly Apologize As Yellow-Flag Penalties Cost Alpine Eight Points

Alpine drivers Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly have taken center stage in apologizing for losing their team a double-points finish in the Mexican GP. Both drivers had picked up yellow flag infringements during the race and were ultimately classified in positions outside the points on Sunday.

“I am sorry to the team for the yellow flag infringement; it is my error which has obviously stopped us from scoring points,” said Gasly. He added that away from the penalty, there are still things that can be done from the team’s side in order to finish higher in races. However, it was still far from a perfect day for Gasly, who admitted he has a “lot to reflect on.”

Meanwhile, “I am sorry to everyone at the team for what happened under the yellow flag,” is what Colapinto had to say after the penalty was confirmed. “While it is difficult to really understand, it is my mistake in the car.”

When the checkered flag waved, Gasly and Colapinto were 10th and eighth, respectively, and even went up to ninth and seventh when Oscar Piastri received a 10-second time penalty for his incident with Arvid Lindblad.

However, the haul of eight points would soon disappear from Alpine’s corner.

Alpine Presented a United Front to the Stewards

Having originally finished the race in P8, Colapinto picked up a 10-second time penalty for passing a single-waved yellow flag and not slowing down enough.

The Argentine driver and his team presented telemetry and photographic evidence claiming it showed that Colapinto had complied with the regulations, which state that a driver must reduce speed and be prepared to change direction.

However, the evidence “failed to satisfy” the stewards that Colapinto had done enough to sufficiently reduce his speed.

Gasly got a harsher stop-and-go penalty that was converted into a 30s drop in the timing sheet. The adjusted time left him reeling in 17th and the last of the classified drivers.

Alpine and Gasly presented documents that claimed the driver had made a significant reduction in speed in the double yellow flag sector. However, a detailed examination of the telemetry led the stewards to conclude that the reduction was not sufficient to satisfy the regulatory requirements.

Final Classifications After Adjusting Alpine Penalties

With both Alpine cars finishing inside the points-paying positions, the final standings were in for a major shuffle once the stewards were done handing out all the post-race penalties. While P7 was originally taken by Piastri, and then by Colapinto, Liam Lawson has officially slotted into P7.

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who originally finished outside the top 10, has jumped from the outside into eighth place. The same situation stands true for Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, who moves from P12 to P9.

F1 debutant and the fill-in driver for Esteban Ocon at Haas, Ryo Hirakawa completed the points positions with a P10 finish. The Japanese driver was a late call-up for the American outfit, after it benched their French driver for reasons unknown.

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