Colapinto finishes ninth in Italy after costly off-track mistake

Franco Colapinto had third place within reach at Monza, then a spin sent him tumbling down the order and turned a potentially major result into a ninth-place finish.

The Alpine driver started seventh after a strong qualifying session with the team’s new car updates. He made a good start, moved ahead of Lewis Hamilton after the Ferrari driver made contact with teammate Charles Leclerc, and climbed to sixth. When Leclerc went off, Colapinto passed Lando Norris and reached fourth before the race was stopped by a red flag following the Monegasque driver’s heavy crash.

After the restart from lap five, Colapinto continued his charge. He passed Max Verstappen and moved into third. But while trying to catch Gasly, he ran off the track and returned in 15th place. He then fought back, moving to 12th, 10th and finally ninth.

The result gave Colapinto two points in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships. He now has 21 points and remains 12th in the drivers’ standings. Kimi Antonelli won for Mercedes after starting 19th and gaining 18 places. With 267 points, Antonelli extended his lead over teammate George Russell, who has 201.

Colapinto’s next race is the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid next weekend. It will be the 14th event of the calendar after races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were cancelled because of the conflict in the Middle East. The Bahrain race was rescheduled for early October in Malaysia.