F1 race control “logic” questioned after China safety car “killed" one driver's race

Franco Colapinto has questioned the "logic" of decisions in the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix after an early safety car hampered his strategy. 

Alpine driver Colapinto scored his first point of the season with a 10th-place finish in Shanghai, but he had hoped for more after starting on the preferred hard tyre, with a view to switching to softer rubber in the closing stages. 

But the benefits of this plan were scuppered on lap 10, when the safety car was deployed after Lance Stroll's Aston Martin stopped on the track, gifting those on softer rubber options a free stop. 

Although this temporarily saw Colapinto in second place, it saw his chances of increased points all but disappear.

Asked for his thoughts on the race by Crash.net, the Argentinian said: "It’s frustrating, because I had a very good race, I did a very good start on the hard tyre and was in a very good position on the strategy, going long. In Melbourne, there was a VSC for everything - a car on fire and VSC - but here, for the first car that stops on the track, they put a safety car out. 

“I don’t really understand the logic around that, but it killed my race. It was really unlucky, and I did my best to stay ahead of the guys on new hards and help Pierre [Gasly], because my race was already tricky to score."

Ocon apologises after Colapinto clash

Colapinto's race was further disrupted after his pit stop, when Esteban Ocon attempted to cut back into Turn 2, but lost the rear of his Haas and spun into the Alpine driver. 

Ocon was handed a 10-second penalty for the accident, which caused damage to both cars. For Colapinto, a post-race apology from the Frenchman has closed the chapter in the incident.

“We stopped three laps after Esteban," he said. "I came out in front after three laps more on the old hard, and he hit me on the rear-right. I had damage on the rear floor which was not great for performance and balance. He came back and said sorry, it’s all good. 

“We had a nice fight with each other during the race, really close. At the end, it didn’t finish well, but he apologised, and it’s fine. 

“I think we need to keep working with the team. It was really tough with the medium; a lot of graining and not nice to drive the car on. It’s just not as positive as it could have been. 

“I did all I could. I pushed really hard, we should have come out with more. We should have got many more points than we did, and that’s the really annoying bit.

“Of course, when these opportunities slip away, they are not nice.”