First-lap near-miss with Lawson was “scary moment” for Colapinto

Franco Colapinto said he was fortunate to avoid a huge crash when he came close to hitting Liam Lawson at the start of the race.

The Alpine driver, who started 16th on the grid, had to swerve to avoid the Racing Bulls car which lined up eighth. Colapinto managed to avoid Lawson’s car and squeeze between it and the pit wall.

“I was actually lucky to finish the race, as it almost ended at the start with a scary moment trying to avoid Lawson who was very slow off the line,” said Colapinto. “I almost went straight into the back of him [but] managed to see him at the last minute.

“I swerved to the right and squeezed between him and the pit wall. I think I touched the wall, but thankfully we didn’t suffer any serious damage and we got through the first lap unscathed.”

Lawson said he did not understand why his car moved so slowly when he tried to get off the line.

“Obviously the lights went out very quick, but I thought I nailed the reaction and the procedure,” he said. “I don’t know: we obviously have to review it.

“But the car didn’t move, I lost all power and I couldn’t get power for another five seconds. I was just sitting there, so it’s pretty frustrating.”

Both drivers finished the race outside the points. Colapinto’s race was compromised when he had to serve a 10-second stop-and-go penalty because his Alpine team members were still working on his car after the 15-second signal was given before the start of the race.

“Based purely on the result, it’s not where we wanted to be,” he said. “However there’s definitely some positives to take away with the race pace and data we gathered, which we can learn from for future races.

“From where we started on the grid, it was always going to be difficult and ultimately the penalty for a start infringement [prevented] us from fighting further up.”

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