was disqualified from the Australian GP

Franco Colapinto is the great promise of Argentine motorsport and shows his talent, date after date, in the Formula 2the opening category of the listed Formula 1. The boy who belongs to the Academia Williams, had rounded off a phenomenal weekend at the Australian Grand Prix. He had finished fourth in the Sprint Racein his best performance of the season, and later had finished seventh in the Feature Race after having come last and starring a furious comeback. However, the smiles faded when The sports stewards decided to disqualify him and leave him empty-handed.

What happened? Colapinto, after his great performance in the Sprint, had started from 13th place on the grid in the main event. However, he had problems again at the start and was sent to the back of the pack. He watched the fight for the top spots from afar until his teammate, Dennis Haugercrashed into a retaining wall when he was leading and forced the safety car to enter.

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

Pilar’s boy, beyond the grand finale, had not been completely happy. “It was a good end to the race. It’s a shame that we continue to have problems with the starts, as no one has. Now we have some tests to work on that and on the qualys, which are the two weakest aspects. Afterwards in the races we are very strong,” Colapinto analyzed just after the competition.

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 “breach of Article 1.5.2 of the FIA ​​Formula 2 Championship Technical Regulations and Article 10.15 of the F2 2024 System User Manual.”

The official statement of the category details the procedure that led the Argentine to drop from tenth place to 14th position 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 on: “The data from car 12 shows that the driver activated the start set-up procedure for the formation lap. However, the driver of car 12 did not press both buttons to activate the start set-up procedure for the start Having considered the matter at length, the Stewards determined that Car 12 breached Article 1.5.2 of the Technical Regulations and Article 10.15 of the F2 2024 System User Manual. Therefore, the stewards decided to disqualify the car. 12 of the results of race 2 (Feature Race)”.

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

Colapinto did not express himself on his social networks. Yes, MP Motorsports did, which regretted having ended 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 into the barrier on the 6” curvethe post starts.

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