Lando Norris, the reigning Formula 1 world championship champion, called for a one-race suspension against Franco Colapinto, the Alpine driver, after he caused an accident that led to the McLaren driver being eliminated from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, on Saturday, in Baku.
The Argentine driver pressed the brakes so hard that they closed while the cars were heading towards the first turn after restarting following the intervention of the safety car.
Amid smoke billowing from the tires, he collided with his teammate Pierre Gasly, who in turn collided with the McLaren car driven by Norris.
The collision led to both Gasly and Norris immediately exiting the race.
“If you cause an accident when restarting in this way, you should be subject to a ban from participating in at least one race,” Norris said after today recording his first retirement from a race since the Monaco Grand Prix in early June.
He added: “It is just negligence on the part of some.” This costs a lot of money, all my car parts are in the trash now, and penalties need to be imposed. “This is not a driving style worthy of Formula 1.”
Colapinto continued to compete in the race at the beginning, before stopping at the pit stop and announcing his withdrawal.
A 10-second delay penalty was imposed on him, but since he had already withdrawn, this penalty will be converted into a five-place grid penalty for the next race, scheduled in Malaysia on October 4.
The accident cost the Alpine team crucial points; Gasly and Colapinto were racing in the top ten when the accident occurred.
“I don't think I really have the right words,” Gasly said. “Of course I am very disappointed for all the team members.”
Colapinto apologized, saying: “I apologize to everyone.”
The Argentine added: “This was not supposed to happen. The tires locked up (they stopped completely due to pressing hard on the brakes) and I completely lost control, so I couldn’t do much.”
Race winner George Russell expressed some sympathy for the 23-year-old, saying that imposing a ban for a race would be too harsh.
The Mercedes driver added: “I personally believe that suspension from participating in a race should be imposed on drivers who intentionally perform extremely dangerous and reckless actions.”
Max Verstappen, who finished second in the race, agreed: “It's not nice for anyone involved, is it? But as George said, I think imposing a ban on racing might be a bit too much.”
The Luxembourg national team achieved a surprise victory over its host, the Bulgarian national team, 2-1, on Saturday, in the first round of the fourth group competitions in the third level of the European Nations League.
Bulgaria took the lead with a goal scored by Asen Chandarov in the 18th minute, but Luxembourg equalized through Leandro Bareiro in the 37th minute.
Vincent Thiel scored the winning goal for the visiting team in the 65th minute, giving Luxembourg its first 3 points in the group.
In another match in the same group, Iceland tied with its guest Estonia 1-1.
Iceland took the lead with a goal scored by Andre Gudjundsson in the 45th minute, before Estonia equalized through Maxim Paskuzzi in the 64th minute.
The referee canceled a goal for Estonia scored by Kevor Palomets in the 52nd minute.
In the town of Serravalli in San Marino, the Finnish national team achieved a major victory over its host San Marino, 7-0, on Saturday, in the first round of Group A competitions in the third level of the European Nations League.
The Finnish national team took the lead with an early goal scored by Yoel Pohanbalu in the fifth minute, before Simon Svanbak added the second goal in the 14th minute.
Benjamin Kalman increased Finland's lead with the third goal in the 33rd minute, then Leo Walta added the fourth goal in the 50th minute, before the same player returned and scored the fifth goal 5 minutes later.
Pohanbalu completed his personal hat-trick by scoring the sixth goal in the 79th minute from a penalty kick, and then concluded Finland's goals in the 88th minute, also from a penalty kick.
The match saw San Marino player Michele Golinucci sent off in the 52nd minute, leaving the hosts to complete the match with ten players.
Australian Alex de Minaur's blood ran down his right leg in a dramatic victory over German Alexander Zverev, 2/6, 7/6, 11/9, giving the world team a 5/3 lead over the European team in the Laver Cup tennis tournament, on Saturday.
The world team, led by American Andre Agassi, rose strongly on the second day of the tournament, after American Lerner Tien defeated Italian Flavio Copoli with a score of 6/3, 2/6, and 10/7 in the first match of the day.
De Minaur said, pointing to the world team shirt: “My blood is red with the color of this shirt. It was a very difficult match, like a fierce battle. I made the maximum effort possible, and I was lucky, and I am happy to give superiority to the world team.”
He added: “We lived through this scenario in last year’s tournament, and things went well, and we know that we can achieve a strong surprise, even though we are not the strongest favourite, but we can provide a strong performance in every match.”
The European team was ahead 3-1 at the end of Friday's matches.
This loss broke a series of 9 consecutive victories for Zverev, ranked second in the world, who achieved two victories with his country in the Davis Cup tennis tournament last week, and before that he won the US Open title.
The third match in the series will be held on Saturday evening, between Spaniard Carlos Alcarras and American Taylor Fritz, while Zverev will play alongside Norwegian Casper Ruud against Alexander Bublik and Brandon Nakashima in doubles matches.
The Laver Cup tournament is held over three days, with four matches per day.
The tournament stipulates that a victory equals one point in Friday matches, increases to two points in Saturday matches, then three points in Sunday matches, and the team that first reaches 13 points is crowned the title.
The European team has won the Laver Cup 5 times, compared to 3 crowns for the world team, the last of which was in 2025, and the tournament is held using the same Ryder Cup system.
The European national team is led by French coach Yannick Noah.
