One F1 driver “lucky” after terrifying Australian GP start near-miss

Franco Colapinto says he was “lucky” to avoid a “massive shunt” with Liam Lawson at the start of the Australian Grand Prix.

The Alpine driver somehow avoided a huge crash when the lights went out after narrowly dodging Lawson’s Racing Bulls car which had got away slowly from the line.

Colapinto’s cat-like reactions saw him squeeze his Alpine car through the smallest of gaps to avoid a terrifying accident. The near-miss was not shown via replays during the race broadcast, but gained traction on social media.

“In the start we almost had a massive shunt with Liam as he got stuck on the grid, and I was really lucky, to be honest, to go through that lap one,” Colapinto said in response to a question from Crash.net.

“I was really, really lucky. [These are] things that can happen with these new cars, but it was just very dangerous and quite sketchy, so I'm glad I got through that.

“I hit the wall a little bit with the rear right but generally was just that.”

Asked what happened, Lawson replied: “Honestly I have no idea, I launched and didn't move and lost all power, and then I couldn't get it back for another five seconds.

“Then a couple of seconds later I got it back and then got wheelspin. I don't know what happened, I haven't had that in testing.”

Race start safety has come under scrutiny under F1’s new rules, which require the engines to be spun up for an extended period of revving to avoid turbo lag.

F1 has implemented a new five-second pre-start procedure in a bid to combat potential issues, but the final hold before the lights is determined by the operator of the start lights.

Sunday’s race began almost immediately, with Charles Leclerc, who vaulted his Ferrari from fourth to first on the run to Turn 1, admitting the speed at which the lights started “took everyone by surprise”.

Colapinto’s stop-and-go penalty explained

Colapinto finished 14th but his race was ruined by a 10-second stop-and-go penalty.

This was issued to Colapinto because Alpine mechanics were working on the Argentine’s car too close to the start of the formation lap.

“Team personnel were touching car 43 on the grid after the 15-second signal had been shown and the car failed to start the race from the pit lane in breach of Article B5.5.5 a) i) of the FIA F1 Regulations,” the stewards noted.

“A mandatory stop-and-go penalty is prescribed for such a breach.”

Alpine manager director Steve Nielsen explained: “There’s a long-standing rule that you cannot work on the car 15 seconds before the start of the formation lap and we transgressed that by a couple of seconds I think.

“It was a procedural error but we don’t single out any individual when we do well and it’s the same when we don’t do so well. We’ll learn from that, we’ll put it right, and we won’t do it again.”