Colapinto handed grid drop for pit lane breach
IMOLA, Italy :Alpine's Argentine rookie Franco Colapinto was handed a one-place grid drop for Sunday's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix for a pit lane infringement before he crashed out of qualifying.
The 21-year-old, who has replaced dropped Australian Jack Doohan at the Renault-owned team, crashed at the end of the first phase of qualifying but was listed as 15th on the timesheets.
Stewards summoned the driver after the session for entering the fast lane in the pit lane before a restart time was confirmed following a red-flag period.
"The team representative stated that he gave the instruction for the car to creep out but not be fully released. The driver misunderstood the instruction and entered the fast lane before the restart time was officially confirmed," they said in a statement.
"Once this was done, it was too late to reverse course and the team instructed the driver to proceed down the pit lane."
Alpine argued there was no sporting advantage gained, given that it was early in the first phase.
