Franco Colapinto already knows the outcome of his investigation into the incident of driving unnecessarily slowly during the second free practice of the Formula 1 Australian GP, which takes place this Friday (6).
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The Alpine driver had been called by the stewards to explain the situation. When coming through the last corner, he ended up facing a problem with his car, which caused a sudden drop in speed.
However, instead of moving to the right side of the track, he stayed on the racing line, which almost caused a major collision with Lewis Hamilton, but the stewards decided not to take any action regarding the incident.
“Colapinto explained that his car suffered a ‘false neutral’ as he approached the last corner and lost traction when entering the main straight. While the team gave him instructions over the radio to try to resolve the problem, the driver kept the car moving slowly to the left of the main straight, as instructed by the team in case he could not resolve the problem and needed to stop,” the statement began.
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“As he approached the control line, Colapinto was caught by Hamilton. Although Hamilton had a clear view of Colapinto for a good distance on the main straight, he apparently was surprised to see Colapinto moving so slowly on the racing line and had to make an evasive maneuver to avoid a collision,” it continued.
“Colapinto explained that he was watching his mirrors the whole time and knew Hamilton was approaching. He said he was instructed by the team to stay to the left because the Race Director’s Event Notes (Emergency Exit Map) indicate the exit point on the main straight on the left side of the track. He said that if he had tried to move off the racing line when he had no traction, it could have created a more dangerous situation,” it followed.
“The stewards were satisfied that there was nothing erratic about Colapinto’s driving. Given his mechanical problem, he was not driving ‘unnecessarily’ slowly. Considering also that the driver positioned the car in a way to ensure he could reach the designated exit point if the problem with the car was not resolved before getting there, the stewards did not consider the driver’s actions to be unsafe and, therefore, decided not to take any further action,” it concluded.
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