F1
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix starting grid changed as driver hit with rare penalty
Franco Colapinto has received a one-place grid penalty for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, dropping him from 15th to 16th. The Alpine racer entered the fast lane in Q1 before a restart time had been confirmed. The confusion occurred after a huge crash for Yuki Tsunoda brought out a lengthy red-flag delay. The FIA stewards eventually sent out a provisional start time to the teams, after which Colapinto was released into the end of the pit lane.
This was a premature move from the Alpine squad, though, and set the Argentine race up for a surefire one-place grid penalty. Colapinto’s penalty was a rare one in the longer-term history of F1, but lightning struck twice this year as Mercedes suffered the same fate in Bahrain. Both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli received one-place grid drops after the Silver Arrows’ operational blunder.
