Alpine to ‘deal internally’ with Colapinto issue after team orders row
Alpine chief Steve Nielsen has issued a statement following the team order controversy involving Franco Colapinto during the United States Grand Prix.
“We will review and deal with it internally.”- Steve Nielsen
Nielsen, who reflected on Alpine’s overall outing in the aftermath of the race at the Circuit of the Americas, also addressed the team order dispute involving Colapinto and teammate Pierre Gasly.
The Alpine F1 Team Managing Director, however, concluded that the team would deal with the incident internally.
“As a team, we have a lot to review across the board from this weekend. While our level of competitiveness is still far from being able to score points, it was encouraging to make a small step forward relative to recent events, looking at the weekend as a whole."
“Today, like many teams, we had to adapt our strategy based on the conditions and what we saw on track, with the Hard tyre not appearing to be a favourable race option."
“We gave the instruction for the drivers to maintain position as we were managing fuel with both cars and had the added variable of the number of laps remaining, with the leaders in close proximity.”
“As a team, any instruction made by the pit wall is final, and today we are disappointed that this didn’t happen, so it’s something we will review and deal with internally.”
During the US Grand Prix, Gasly and Colapinto briefly stole the spotlight towards the tail end of the race. The pair, who were running in 17th and 18th respectively, were instructed to hold positions for the final laps. However, Colapinto, who initially appeared surprised by the message from the pit wall, went on to overtake Gasly to clinch 17th place.
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Colapinto on ignoring team orders
Colapinto also reacted to the controversy involving Gasly. The Argentine racer stated that his tyre advantage over the Frenchman contributed to his decision to make the move.
The 22-year-old concluded by saying the team will have a debrief about the incident.
“At the end, I had slightly fresher tyres than Pierre and saw Gabriel [Bortoleto] attacking. I wanted to keep him behind both of us, so it is something we will discuss as a team and learn from moving forward.”
Both Alpine drivers finished the United States Grand Prix outside the points, extending their streak of pointless finishes since the Belgian Grand Prix.
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