Franco Colapinto has had his say after Jeremy Clarkson joked that the Alpine driver got a penalty at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix for being Argentinian.
Clarkson made quite a stir at the Circuit of the Americas after he suggested Colapinto was given a grid penalty for the race in jest.
The former Top Gear and Grand Tour presenter, who has his own history with Argentina since the infamous Patagonia Top Gear Special, was at the Circuit of the Americas as a guest of Alpine.
“Franco’s got a grid penalty for being Argentine. Probably, well, I’d give him one for that,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“That’s just because of what happened when we went there,” he added in reference to when he and his co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May, along with the Top Gear crew, had to evacuate the Country after uproar over a perceived mocking of the 1982 Falklands War between the UK and Argentina.
The Enstone-based team released a statement after the fact, and Colapinto’s management slammed the comments as “completely unacceptable” in light of Clarkson drawing staunch criticism.
The 23-year-old has now spoken out, conceding to Clarkson’s “jokey” nature but insisting that his words were “not the best”.
“I think of course it has nothing to do with the team,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“He just did an interview on his own, and it is nothing related to the team, and I think he’s always been jokey, but I don’t really know him.
“But they told me, and I didn’t see too much of what he said, but I heard that Jamie put something on social media, but I guess we will try to focus on ourselves.
“I try to improve the situation, of course, and it needs help from a lot of people, not just from me, but we will see how we end up, but it is not the best, I guess.”
Franco Colapinto sets Alpine target for remaining 2026 F1 races
Colapinto’s US GP came to a premature end after an incident involving his team-mate Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad caused substantial damage to his car.
Looking forward to the remainder of the calendar, the Alpine driver wants to, at the very least, “finish the races”.
“Pierre was coming out of the pits, and I was trying to be very defensive so Pierre could be ahead, and then three of us were side-by-side, and I got sandwiched,” Colapinto explained.
“So I got totally damaged, but our race was not looking very good with all the traffic, so it is what it is.
“We need to come back stronger in Mexico and try to finish races.”
Colapinto sits 12th in the drivers’ standings with five races remaining in 2026.
READ MORE – ‘I was praying’: Norris rues safety car timing after Austin one-stop gamble
Discussion about this post