Albon Retracts Criticism of Colapinto’s Move at the First Corner

Alex Albon changed his opinion regarding his teammate Franco Colapinto’s maneuver during the opening lap.

At the start of the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, Albon backtracked from his angry radio message about Colapinto’s actions at the first corner. After the opening turns, Albon stated on the team radio that his teammate entered the braking zone too late and made a move into the pack.

He had expressed his frustration on the radio, saying, “Franco dove in, what is he doing?” However, after reviewing the video of the first corner, Albon gained a new perspective on the events. Colapinto’s late-braking maneuver allowed him to pass Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz, and Albon, moving up three spots on the grid.

Albon dropped to 15th after being forced wide and concluded that the issue stemmed not from his teammate’s actions but from a lack of space to navigate the corner. He remarked, “I don’t know how it looked from the outside, but I think no one had enough room to make the corner.”

“As a result, everyone came together, and we had to go straight in the first corner. I was on the outside and paid the price by having to go off the escape area.”

“There’s really nothing to criticize. It was just unfortunate that I was on the other side of the corner. It was a bit frustrating. But I think the whole weekend was somewhat frustrating. Despite having a car that should have been in the top ten, we couldn’t achieve that.”

Colapinto stated that he didn’t understand why there was such an uproar over his first corner move and saw no issue with his maneuver. He claimed he reached the apex and didn’t force anyone wide.

When asked about Albon’s “diving in” criticism, the Argentine said, “I don’t know. I just saw Tsunoda next to me. There was a gap, and I went into the corner. There was no one to my right, and I left space up to the white line, and no one was there. So, I don’t know. I haven’t seen the replay yet.”

While Albon was unable to finish the race due to cooling issues, Colapinto finished in 11th place. He noted that the key strategic point of the day was making an early pit stop to gain positions and believed he could have finished ahead of Sergio Perez with a better strategy.

Colapinto added, “We just need to defend this a bit better and not allow these mistakes to happen again. Because we lost our position in the points standings just by pitting a lap too late. But what’s done is done. We win together and lose together.”