Franco Colapinto ‘blatantly ignored’ Martin Brundle over his treatment of one Formula 1 driver

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Franco Colapinto is just four races into his Formula 1 career. He made his debut at the Italian Grand Prix on 1 September after replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams.

While he’s already scored five points, there are plenty of ‘firsts’ he still hasn’t achieved. And one of those is appearing in Martin Brundle’s grid walk.

Brundle is arguably the best-known F1 pundit on UK television, having worked in broadcasting since the 1990s. Before every race he attends, he takes to the busy starting grid with a microphone to interview drivers, team members and celebrities.

Ahead of last weekend’s race in Austin, he tried to speak to Colapinto. But the Argentine simply walked past him, much to the pundit’s amusement afterwards.

A report from Fox Sports Mexico suggests this wasn’t a misunderstanding. Colapinto went on to finish 10th, overtaking Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in the standings after another superb showing.

With five races remaining, his case for a 2025 seat is growing stronger by the week. Williams can’t offer him a deal because they’ve already committed to Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Franco Colapinto objects to Martin Brundle’s comments on Sergio Perez

Fox’s report states that Colapinto ‘blatantly ignored’ Brundle on purpose. He’s unhappy with what the Sky Sports F1 man has been saying about Sergio Perez.

The only two Latin American drivers on the grid, Colapinto and Perez have developed a ‘good relationship’ in the past couple of months. The veteran praised him over the team radio at the Singapore GP, calling him ‘very good’ and ‘difficult to pass’.

Colapinto regards Brundle, who’s been critical of Perez, as an ‘enemy’ and exacted his ‘revenge’ by snubbing him. It was ‘very clear’ that he didn’t want to speak to him.

Brundle described Colapinto as an emerging ‘star’ earlier in the weekend. But he also warned him about ‘wasted energy’ and ‘wasted words’ in his complaints over the radio.

What has Martin Brundle said about struggling Red Bull driver Sergio Perez?

As long as they remain respectful, pundits are justified in criticising Perez. He’s 194 points behind his teammate in the world championship and has failed to reach Q3 in six out of 19 races so far.

Even within the team many have given up. ‘Everyone’ at Red Bull is ‘praying’ for Perez to retire, according to one journalist, so they can promote a young driver like Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda in the most straightforward way possible.

Brundle says he’s a ‘huge admirer’ of Perez and ‘hates’ discussing his Formula 1 future. However, he acknowledged that ‘he’s not delivering world championship points’.

Indeed, the 34-year-old has arguably cost his team the constructors’ title this year. They’re 40 points behind McLaren and are at risk of losing second place to Ferrari.