Franco Colapinto has fully accepted the blame for the multi-car crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that left Lando Norris furious and demanding a ban from the FIA.
The Alpine driver's mistake pushed team-mate Pierre Gasly into Norris, who spun into the barriers. The world champion was incandescent after the race and called on the FIA to ban the Argentine driver over the incident.
Colapinto apologises after costly error
Speaking to Sky Sports, Colapinto held his hands up and apologised to Gasly and Norris. Both Alpine cars were in the points at the time but had to retire, while Norris also suffered a DNF.
Colapinto was handed a 10-second time penalty by the stewards, which could become a grid-place penalty for the next race, the Bahrain Grand Prix, to be held in Malaysia next Sunday.
When asked if he would apologise, Colapinto said: "Yeah of course. I think just to all the team, not only to Pierre, it's a big mistake.
"Big, big sorry to Pierre and to everyone at the factory who has been working really hard. We lost a lot of... well we had both cars in the points. So very sad and very disappointed. Big, big sorry. It's a big mistake.
"Cold brakes, cold tyres, I locked up and was completely out of control. Unfortunately I also took Pierre out and Lando of course. Big sorry to both of them."
Norris demands stricter FIA action
In his own interview, Norris raged: "In Formula One, we want to be against the best drivers in the world and, when stuff like this happens... Yeah, we shouldn't be there. I think the FIA should be more strict and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff.
"It's just careless from people. It costs a lot of money, all my parts are in the bin now. People should just get banned, because that's not driving that deserves to be in Formula One.
"I've not seen it but, if you cause a crash on a restart like this, you should have at least a one-race ban."
