Franco Colapinto has had his say after Jeremy Clarkson joked that the Alpine driver received a penalty on the Formulation 1 United States Grand Prix for being Argentinian.
Clarkson made fairly a stir on the Circuit of the Americas after he recommended Colapinto was given a grid penalty for the race in jest.
The previous Prime Gear and Grand Tour presenter, who has his personal historical past with Argentina for the reason that notorious Patagonia Prime Gear Particular, was on the Circuit of the Americas as a visitor of Alpine.
“Franco’s received a grid penalty for being Argentine. Most likely, effectively, I’d give him one for that,” he instructed Sky Sports activities F1.
“That’s simply due to what occurred after we went there,” he added in reference to when he and his co-presenters Richard Hammond and James Could, together with the Prime Gear crew, needed to evacuate the Nation after uproar over a perceived mocking of the 1982 Falklands Struggle between the UK and Argentina.
The Enstone-based group launched an announcement after the very fact, and Colapinto’s administration slammed the feedback as “fully unacceptable” in mild of Clarkson drawing staunch criticism.
The 23-year-old has now spoken out, conceding to Clarkson’s “jokey” nature however insisting that his phrases had been “not the very best”.
“I consider course it has nothing to do with the group,” he instructed media together with Motorsport Week.
“He simply did an interview on his personal, and it’s nothing associated to the group, and I believe he’s all the time been jokey, however I don’t actually know him.
“However they instructed me, and I didn’t see an excessive amount of of what he mentioned, however I heard that Jamie put one thing on social media, however I assume we are going to attempt to deal with ourselves.
“I attempt to enhance the scenario, after all, and it wants assist from lots of people, not simply from me, however we are going to see how we find yourself, however it isn’t the very best, I assume.”
Franco Colapinto units Alpine goal for remaining 2026 F1 races
Colapinto’s US GP got here to a untimely finish after an incident involving his team-mate Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad triggered substantial injury to his automotive.
Wanting ahead to the rest of the calendar, the Alpine driver desires to, on the very least, “end the races”.
“Pierre was popping out of the pits, and I used to be making an attempt to be very defensive so Pierre may very well be forward, after which three of us had been side-by-side, and I received sandwiched,” Colapinto defined.
“So I received completely broken, however our race was not trying superb with all of the site visitors, so it’s what it’s.
“We have to come again stronger in Mexico and attempt to end races.”
Colapinto sits twelfth within the drivers’ standings with 5 races remaining in 2026.
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