Franco Colapinto went from a phenomenal weekend to living a nightmare in Formula 2: he was disqualified from the Australian GP

Franco Colapinto is the great promise of Argentine motorsport and shows his talent, date after date, in Formula 2the opening category of the list Formula 1. The boy who belongs to Williams Academy, had concluded a phenomenal weekend at the Australian Grand Prix. He had finished fourth in the Sprint racein his best performance of the season, and later finished seventh in the Characteristic race after arriving last and protagonist a furious return. However, the smiles faded when The sports commissioners decided to disqualify him and leave him empty-handed.

What happened? Colapinto, after his excellent performance in the Sprint, started from 13th place on the grid in the main test. However, he again had problems at the start and was sent to the back of the pack. He witnessed the fight for the top positions from afar until his teammate, Dennis Haugerhe crashed into a retaining wall while leading and forced the safety car to come in.

This circumstance allowed the Argentine to close the gap and, after a passage to the pits, Get the best performance from your car. One after another he left his rivals until he reached the checkered flag in seventh place. It had been a career for the MP Motorsports team driver.

Pilar’s boyfriend, beyond the grand finale, had not been entirely happy. “It was a good end to the race. It’s a shame that we continue to have problems with departures, because no one has had them. Now we have tests to work on on this and on qualifying, which are the two weakest aspects. Then in the race we are very strong”, analyzed Colapinto immediately after the race.

But he still didn’t know that the worst was yet to come. The sports commissioners decided hours later to disqualify him because “did not activate the set-up procedure at the start of Race 2.”

According to the judges, Colapinto committed a “violation of article 1.5.2 of the Technical Regulations of the FIA ​​Formula 2 Championship and article 10.15 of the 2024 F2 System User Manual”.

The official press release of the category details the process that led the Argentine to do so drop from tenth place to 14th place in the Drivers’ Championship with 13 units after the first three dates of the 2024 season.

“The commissioners received a report from the technical delegate (document 60). They summoned and listened to the pilot and the team representative (document 61). A defined activation of the set-up procedure must be used during all formation lap starts and race starts.the explanation begins.

Go ahead: “The data from car 12 shows that the driver activated the start set-up procedure. However, the driver of car 12 did not press both buttons to activate the start set-up procedure. Having considered the question in length, the stewards determined that car 12 violated article 1.5.2 of the Technical Regulations and article 10.15 of the 2024 F2 System User Manual. Therefore, the stewards decided to disqualify the car. 12 of the results of race 2 (Feature Race)”.

And he closes: “Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal against certain decisions of the stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA ​​International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA ​​Judicial and Disciplinary Regulations, within the applicable time limits”.

Colapinto did not express himself on his social media. Yes, MP Motorsports did, and regretted ending the weekend empty-handed.

“Unfortunately, we had a difficult Sunday in Melbourne. Both Dennis (Hauger) and Franco showed good pace, but we ran out of points. Due to cold tires after the pit stop, Dennis lost the car and crashed against the barrier in the 6th round. ” curvethe post begins.

And he closes: “Franco moved up to seventh place, but was disqualified for not following the correct starting procedure. Hard lesson, but we win and lose together as a team. Let’s learn from this and hope to be stronger together in Imola”.