A race ban for Franco Colapinto? Here’s what Max Verstappen and George Russell have to say

It’s interesting to see how Formula 1 world champions react to setbacks. At the restart of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Franco Colapinto misjudged the situation completely; the Argentine crashed into his Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly, who in turn pushed Lando Norris’s McLaren into the TecPro barrier. Afterwards, Norris ranted and raved and called for Colapinto to be banned from the race.

Formula 1 fans reacted online with slight irritation. Some of them pointed to Max Verstappen, who was knocked out of the Grand Prix in Austria in 2025 by Kimi Antonelli shortly after the start. The Dutchman lost points there which ultimately cost him his fifth title. But here in Spielberg? Not a word of complaint from Verstappen, more along the lines of – after all, he didn’t do it on purpose, these things happen, let’s put it behind us and move on.

Verstappen remains true to form here. After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, both he and the winner, George Russell, were asked what they thought of Norris’s call for Colapinto to be suspended.

Max Verstappen says: “Provided the driver who caused the accident is aware of what he’s done and has apologised, I think a ban is too harsh. And things like that just happen. I mean, a small mistake or a misjudgement is enough – you lock up your wheels, you’re on the inside, you’ve got little grip, and then it was just unfortunate that so many cars were involved.”

And George Russell says: “I’d find a race ban too harsh. At restarts following a safety car period, with cold tyres, even a very small mistake can have major consequences. From what I saw of the crash, that’s exactly what happened to Colapinto. Race bans should only be imposed when drivers deliberately do something dangerous and reckless.”

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