Lando Norris has apologised to Franco Colapinto for calling for a race ban after their collision at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, saying his comments were wrong and that the pair had cleared the air. The reigning world champion said he messaged the Alpine driver two days after the crash, which ended the races of Colapinto, his team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Norris.

The collision happened at the lap 36 restart after a safety-car period on Baku’s slippery street circuit. Colapinto locked up into Turn 1 and slid into Gasly, who then hit Norris; all three retired. Colapinto later took responsibility, calling it his “big mistake.”

Norris was furious after the incident. He said he had not seen what happened and had “just got taken out,” then called on the FIA to impose stricter penalties. “I've not seen it. I just got taken out. I think the FIA should be stricter and start handing out bans for this kind of stuff,” he said.

“It's careless from people. It costs a lot of money. All my parts are in the bin now. People should just get banned, because that's not driving that deserves to be in Formula 1,” Norris said. Asked whether the slippery conditions were a mitigating factor, he said drivers should anticipate low grip and low tyre temperatures. “In Formula 1, we want to be against the best drivers in the world, and when stuff like this happens, it's because [they] shouldn't be there.”

He added: “I've not seen it, but if you cause a crash in a restart like this, you should have at least a one-race ban.” Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he also said: “Give him a ban. It's quite simple.”

In a social media post, Norris wrote: “Tough weekend overall in Baku and of course a disappointing and early end to the race. After the race, I sent Franco a message apologising for the comments I made that I simply should not have said. I know better and emotions were running high but that is not an excuse, it was wrong of me. I've made mistakes of my own over the years and I know this is very much a part of racing and fighting on the limit. Me and Franco came to a good understanding, are still good friends and are both excited to get back racing this weekend.”

Colapinto had already received a 10-second penalty during the race. Because he had retired, it was converted to a five-place grid drop to be served at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia this weekend. His mistake also angered Alpine chief Flavio Briatore because it cost the team a double points finish.

Alpine issued a statement the day before Norris’s apology criticising abusive social media comments aimed at multiple people after the crash. Further online abuse has overshadowed Colapinto’s Formula 1 career. The incident prompted renewed discussion of the abuse, and Briatore said he would reflect on necessary action after describing Colapinto’s Baku error as “poor.”

Based on reporting by Autosport, RaceFans and BBC Sport.