“It was just very dangerous” – Franco Colapinto’s scary near-miss with Liam Lawson at start of F1 Australian GP

Colapinto labelled himself “very, very lucky” to have avoided Lawson’s slow-starting car in Melbourne

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto expressed unabashed relief after narrowly avoiding a colossal accident with Liam Lawson’s crawling Racing Bulls at the start of Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix.

The race start was a point of concern amid F1’s switch to new power unit rules, with the removal of MGU-H making it harder for drivers to spool up the turbo.

Several competitors endured slow getaways, with Lawson coming off worst. The Kiwi plummeted from eighth to 18th as he limped away from his grid position.

Asked what happened, Lawson said: “Honestly I have no idea, I launched and didn't move and lost all power, and then I couldn't get it back for another five seconds.

“Then a couple of seconds later I got it back and then got wheelspin. I don't know what happened, I haven't had that in testing.”

The Racing Bulls was very narrowly avoided by Colapinto, who had built up substantial speed from 16th on the grid and jerked into an extremely narrow gap between the Alpine and the wall. The Argentine was chilled by that experience.

“In the start we almost had a massive shunt with Liam as he got stuck on the grid, and I was really lucky, to be honest, to go through that lap one,” he recounted. “I was really, really lucky. [These are] things that can happen with these new cars, but it was just very dangerous and quite sketchy, so I'm glad I went through that. I hit the wall a little bit with the rear right but generally was just that.”

Franco Colapinto ahead of Liam Lawson in the background

Photo by: Paul Crock / AFP via Getty Images

Lawson eventually raced to 13th position, taking the chequered flag 45 seconds later than rookie team-mate Arvid Lindblad, who finished eighth on debut.

“Pretty frustrating,” the Racing Bulls driver commented. “We obviously had a very good day yesterday, had both cars in a great position, and I think the pace through the race was OK, just sort of fighting issues throughout the race, trying to manage energy.

“So it's something I'll review, but definitely not a clean day; even after the start through the race we were fighting issues, so it's a shame.”

Meanwhile, Colapinto finished 14th, 64 seconds down on team spearhead Pierre Gasly. The Alpine driver was given a stop-and-go penalty due to a mechanic touching his car after the 15-second signal was shown prior to the formation lap.

“It was a long race,” he lamented. “We were struggling for pace this weekend. We were hoping much better after Bahrain. Then we got a stop-and-go, lost another 30-something seconds. It was just a tough afternoon.”

Additional reporting by Ronald Vording and Stuart Codling