Lance Stroll bites back at Franco Colapinto following the Spaniard’s comments after the F1 São Paulo GP. On that occasion the Aston Martin driver had slightly come into contact with fellow F1 driver Gabriel Bortoleto. Unfortunately, the rookie ended his day early spinning out of his home race at the start at Turn 10.
An unfortunate event
Ultimately the stewards didn’t believe the accident happened on purpose, regarding it as a common racing incident. As a result, Stroll did not get a penalty. Regardless, Stroll’s race still had a negative downturn. In fact, at the restart he got hit by Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda. The accident caused the Japanese driver to earn a time penalty.
In spit of missing out on another chance of glory at home, Bortoleto shared the stewards’s view on the situation. The reigning F2 champion didn’t call for consequences on the Canadian.
Right after the end of the race, Colapinto had opened up on his radio to express his displeasure with some of the manoeuvres completed by Stroll.
”Yeah Stroll pushed him off. Stroll is an idiot.”
The Argentinian, who has recently signed a contract extension, highlighted his opinion on the driver in a post-race interview. “Stroll is just always taking people out, just not looking in the mirrors, leaving no track [space] and he put Gabi (Bortoleto) in the wall, so it’s what he does every time.”
Stroll’s opinion
Stroll gave his own point of view on the collision and on Colapinto’s comments after the F1 São Paulo GP ahead of the upcoming Las Vegas round. The Aston Martin driver, currently in his ninth Formula 1 season, expressed his dismay at the colleague’s words, urging him to focus on his own challenging year.
“I heard about it, yeah. I don’t know, maybe he’s frustrated and angry with life. I don’t know how many points he has in the championship.I can tell you that.
“He has zero points. I don’t know, he should probably focus on his own things and try to score some points at some point this year.”
Likewise, considering that both the relevant authorities and the other part involved in the unfortunate collision did not find him to be at fault, Stroll feels serene about his action, especially after having a clarifying discussion with Bortoleto.
“I didn’t get a penalty in Brazil or anything. I spoke with Gabriel after and he was racing. So yeah, probably Franco should focus on scoring a point or something this year.
“No, we spoke. It’s surprising to see that another driver is actually more frustrated than the one that was involved.”
As a consequence, he concluded his intervention with a suggestion for the younger colleague to try and secure points, just like he himself is doing. Precisely, at the moment Stroll sits in fifteenth place in the drivers’standings with 32 points to his name.
“Maybe, like I said, he’s frustrated with his season and not where he wants to be. He needs to speak about other things that are irrelevant. So yeah, my advice to him is he tries to focus on his own thing and maybe score a point this year.”
Colapinto’s latest reply
Ultimately, Colapinto went on to publicly apologise to Stroll ahead of the Las Vegas GP, recalling his comments as a heated reaction caused by his proximity to the situation.
“Yeah. I think you’re seeing a heat of the moment after the race. So the incident with Bortoleto – I was just behind, and I just saw the moment.
“But of course, sorry if it affected him. I was in the heat after the race, and yeah, hopefully it’s all good between us. But we’ve been spending a lot of time together on track in the races. We’ve been very close to each other, and we had some close fights.”
