Stroll shuts down Colapinto: ‘Maybe he should try scoring a point’

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll has torn into Franco Colapinto after the Alpine rookie unleashed an unwarranted attack on him following the São Paulo Grand Prix – a rant Stroll has dismissed as nothing more than misplaced frustration from a driver still searching for his first Formula 1 point.

Colapinto, who spent the Brazilian weekend duelling at the back of the field, detonated into the TV cameras after Gabriel Bortoleto’s opening lap crash at Interlagos, pinning the blame on Stroll’s defence.

“Stroll is just always taking people out, just not looking in the mirrors, leaving no track, and he put Gabi in the wall,” said the Argentinean. “It's what he does every time.”

It was a scorching – and misguided – accusation, and one immediately laughed off by Stroll, who found out about it after the fact.

“I heard about it. I don't know. Maybe he's frustrated and angry with life,” Stroll said on Wednesday in Las Vegas. “I don't know how many points he has in the championship. I can't tell you.

“He has zero points? I don't know. He should probably focus on his own things and try to score some points this year.”

That theme continued as Stroll brushed off the idea that he’d done anything wrong in the first place

‘Maybe he should focus on scoring a point’

Stroll doubled down, pointing to the one person whose opinion actually mattered: Gabriel Bortoleto, the driver involved.

“I'm racing. I didn't get a penalty in Brazil or anything,” he continued. “I spoke with Gabriel after the race. Probably Franco should focus on scoring a point or something this year.”

In case there was any ambiguity, Stroll clarified the situation again – with a measure of deadpan that would make Kimi Räikkönen proud.

“No, we spoke. I was racing,” he said of Bortoleto. Then, circling back to Colapinto: “Maybe he's frustrated with his season and not where he wants to be. He needs to speak about other things that are irrelevant.

“My advice to him is that he tries to focus on his own thing and maybe score a point this year.”

Given the Canadian escaped Brazil with neither penalty nor recriminations from the stewards or the other driver involved, Colapinto’s tirade landed somewhere between puzzling and comical.

Colapinto Walks It Back

Faced with Stroll’s counterpunch – and perhaps reflecting on the small matter of his own standings total – Colapinto attempted to soften his remarks.

“Yeah, I think it was in the heat of the moment after the race,” he admitted. “So the incident with Gabi from... I was just behind, and I just saw the moment. But, of course, sorry if it affected him.

“ Of course, it was in the heat after the race. And yeah, hopefully it's all good between us.”

He added that he and Stroll have often found themselves battling on track.

“But we've been spending a lot of time together on track in the races. We've been very close to each other and we had some close fights,” he said, stopping short of criticizing the Canadian again.

Still, the contrast was stark: a rookie venting after another point-less weekend, and a seasoned driver unmoved, unbothered, and unpenalised.

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Colapinto unleashes on Stroll: ‘He’s always taking people out’

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