Briatore moves on after Colapinto’s Baku crash

Flavio Briatore wants to move on after the accident caused by Franco Colapinto at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The collision involved his team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris; all three drivers retired. Alpine therefore missed out on valuable points, while Arvid Lindblad took seventh for Racing Bulls. Both Alpine drivers had been in contention to score, according to the race report.

Following the Baku incident, Colapinto faces a five-place grid penalty at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, held in Malaysia. Alpine also chose to install a fresh combustion engine in his car during the Sepang weekend, adding 10 places to his penalty.

Briatore acknowledged his disappointment but said he did not want to dwell on the incident: “I was upset, yes, like I believe everybody in the team, including Franco, for the mistake he made. But this is the past. What can we do? Whatever we’ve done, it is impossible to turn it back.” He also said he would take time to consider what action should follow, while stressing that any decision would remain internal to the team.

The focus now is the battle for fifth. Alpine trails Racing Bulls by 15 points, but Briatore believes his team can catch its rival. “We’re fighting for fifth position with Racing Bulls, we gave away a lot of points,” he said. He also pointed to the time still available: “But we still have eight races. We have plenty of time.” The priority is to close the gap on track without letting any repercussions from the crash distract the team from that fight.