After Alpine was handed back Pierre Gasly’s third place in Monaco, the team suffered a fresh issue after Franco Colapinto lost eighth place after the Formula 1 Barcelona Grand Prix.
The Enstone-based squad was successful in its Right to Review appeal process of Gasly’s time penalty at Monaco, which saw him lose third place to Isack Hadjar and Red Bull.
After the Frenchman was cleared, the team put up a double-points finish on Sunday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but has lost some points after post-race checks.
When home hero Fernando Alonso retired, the yellow flags and a Virtual Safety Car were brought out, but the Argentinian was adjudged to have failed to sufficiently slow, breaching Article B1.8.4 a. of the FIA F1 Regulations.
“The stewards heard from the driver of Car 43 (Franco Colapinto), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence,” the FIA’s official document read.
“The stewards determine that, albeit the driver of Car 43 slightly reduced speed before entering the single yellow flag zone, but did not discernibly reduce speed in the relevant yellow flag sector.
“The stewards acknowledge that the driver reacted to the yellow flag but do not consider the reaction to be sufficient to comply with the regulations.
“Therefore a penalty on the lower end of the applicable scale of penalties is imposed.”
Colapinto, therefore, was demoted from eighth to 10th, enbabling some reward for another good performance, signalling further improvement, amid rumours of an impending return to the team for Alonso.
The double-points finish was not without other contention, however, as Colapinto furiously retorted to his team on the radio when asked to cede position to Gasly earlier in the race, a move that proved to contribute to its impressive results.
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