Aug.25 (GMM) Franco Colapinto has again found himself at the centre of controversy, this time after his main sponsor publicly accused FIA stewards of damaging Formula 1’s integrity.
The Alpine driver was penalised twice at Zandvoort for yellow-flag infringements, including a drive-through for passing Yuki Tsunoda as Max Verstappen’s opening-lap crash unfolded.
Colapinto argued the stewards lacked the “judgement” to consider what was actually safest in the conditions.
“I feel that even though the rules are written, they should be much more flexible and they should have the criteria to also understand what’s safer or a bit more unsafe,” he said.
“It’s their job, but it’s also their job to be a bit flexible and understand the situation.”
Mercado Libre chief marketing officer Sean Summers then escalated the issue dramatically on social media.
“FIA stewards are killing the integrity of F1,” he blasted.
“This season they are proving to be horrible and impacting race results. Incompetence? Dishonesty? Both?”
“Something is seriously broken in that organisation’s culture.”
The comments prompted Alpine to distance the team from Summers’ attack while still agreeing that the penalties were severe.
“We fully trust the FIA and the Stewards when it comes to the policing of these rules and the application of sporting penalties during a live race scenario,” the team said in a statement.
“We believe the penalties applied for Yellow Flag Infringements during the opening laps of the Dutch Grand Prix were indeed harsh, but acknowledge they fit the punishment based on the letter of the law and were consistently applied across all competitors.”
It is not Colapinto’s first off-track controversy in recent weeks.
During the summer break, thieves emptied his car in Milan while he was eating at a restaurant he praised for its carbonara, taking his passport, wallet and clothes.
But it was Colapinto’s reaction that created headlines, after he initially wrote: “Who would have thought that Italians would steal everything from a Latino?”
He subsequently changed “Italians” to “Europeans” before removing the remark altogether following criticism.