Franco Colapinto penalized in Mexico City Grand Prix, drops to fifteenth
The Argentine Alpine driver lost his points finish after receiving a ten-second post-race penalty for a yellow-flag infringement.
Formula One driver Franco Colapinto suffered a major setback at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday after receiving a post-race ten-second time penalty that stripped him of his hard-earned championship points at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
The 23-year-old Argentine driver, competing for Alpine, originally crossed the finish line in the eighth position during the nineteenth round of the Formula One World Championship. He briefly climbed to seventh place following a penalty assessed to Oscar Piastri.
However, race stewards determined that Colapinto had violated safety protocols by failing to adequately reduce his speed while yellow flags were actively waving on the circuit.
The ten-second penalty resulted in a steep seven-place drop in the official race classification, pushing Colapinto down to the fifteenth position at the final order.
As a consequence of the ruling, the Alpine driver missed out on adding to his championship tally, prolonging a challenging stretch of four consecutive races without scoring points in the world championship.
Colapinto was not the only member of the Alpine team to be penalized for the same infraction. His teammate, French driver Pierre Gasly, who initially finished in tenth place, received an identical ten-second sanction and dropped to seventeenth position.
The dual penalties applied to the Alpine drivers shifted the final standings further down the order. Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto, who initially crossed the finish line in eleventh place for Audi, moved up into the ninth position following the adjustments.