Was Colapinto's Penalty Fair? Baku GP 2026 Review

Drew and Zac go through the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2026 from Baku. George Russell took pole and won his third race of the year, his first since Austria in June, but a late yellow flag and a boost problem nearly cost him victory over Max Verstappen, who started eighth. Isack Hadjar made it a Red Bull double podium and Kimi Antonelli recovered from a Q1 crash to finish fifth. Then there is the restart crash. Franco Colapinto locked up at Turn 1, hit Pierre Gasly and ended the races of both Alpines and Lando Norris. The stewards gave him a 10 second penalty, converted to a five place grid drop at the next race because he had retired. Arvid Lindblad made contact with Liam Lawson at the same corner and got no penalty. We argue about whether that is consistent, whether Norris was right to call for a ban, and what Flavio Briatore might do next. We also cover Ferrari and the Vasseur and Horner talk, why Hadjar was our driver of the race, whether the tyres killed the strategy, McLaren's weekend, what Baku means for the title fight between Russell and Antonelli, and the results of the TMF predictor game. It did not go well. Topics in order 00:00 Colapinto's crash: how bad was it? 02:15 Penalty row: Colapinto vs Lindblad 04:12 Briatore, Alpine and Norris's reaction 07:08 Was Baku boring? Blame the cars 08:02 Ferrari, Vasseur and the Horner rumour 13:36 Hadjar and Red Bull 15:14 Driver of the race 17:23 Russell vs Verstappen and the boost issue 19:19 Safety car, tyres and Pirelli 22:57 McLaren's weekend 25:03 Russell, Antonelli and the title fight 32:30 TMF predictor game results 36:18 Malaysia predictions 40:45 How to follow the show Play the TMF Predictor game: send us your pole, fastest lap and podium picks for the next race. Beat us and we will read yours out on the show. Full episode guide: www.themotorsportfiles.com Find us on social media: @TMFPod23