Lando Norris confirmed that he has messaged Franco Colapinto to apologise, after urging the FIA to hit him with a race ban.
In a post via his Instagram story, Norris revealed the reception from Colapinto and issued a wider apology, acknowledging that it was “wrong” of him to say what he said.
Lando Norris apologises for Colapinto outburst
The reigning world champion was an innocent casualty as drama erupted at the first of two Safety Car restarts in Baku.
Colapinto went into Turn 1 too hot, cleaning out not only Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, but Norris too.
Terminal damage was inflicted upon all three cars.
Behind, Arvid Lindblad had tagged Racing Bulls partner Liam Lawson into a spin.
A frustrated Norris took aim at Colapinto when discussing his DNF with PlanetF1.com and others.
“I think the FIA should be more strict and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff,” Norris stated.
“It’s just careless from people. Costs a lot of money. All my parts are in the bin now. People should just get banned, because that’s not driving that deserves to be in Formula 1.”
Norris admitted that he had not yet watched the incident back, but doubled down on his call for “at least a one-race ban” to come the Argentinian’s way.
As the heat of the moment passed, Norris confirmed that he reached out to Colapinto over his comments. A “good understanding” was found as the Brit apologised.
The McLaren racer took to Instagram’s story function – which displays content posted by the account holder for 24 hours – to explain what action he took after Baku, and express regret.
“Tough weekend overall in Baku and of course a disappointing and early end to the race,” Norris writes.
“After the race, I sent Franco a message apologising for the comments I made that I simply should not have said.
“I know better and emotions were running high, but that is not an excuse, it was wrong of me.
“I’ve made mistakes of my own over the years and I know this is very much a part of racing and fighting on the limit.
“Me and Franco came to a good understanding, are still good friends and are both excited to get back racing this weekend.”
More on Lando Norris from PlanetF1.com
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The stewards dished out a 10-second penalty to Colapinto for causing that Baku collision. As he retired from the race, unable to serve the sanction, it has been converted into a five-place grid drop, to be served at the next race in which he participates.
That is due to be this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, though a furious Flavio Briatore is understood to be mulling over what “action” he will take, after his driver eliminated both cars from a likely double points finish.
Nothing is off the table, even Colapinto being stood down for Bahrain.
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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