Karun Chandhok thinks £4m-a-year F1 driver did something ‘unacceptable’ in Austrian Grand Prix

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It was a mixed race for a lot of the drivers in the Austrian Grand Prix, despite the two McLarens increasing their championship lead to over 50 points.

Oscar Piastri is now 52 points clear of Max Verstappen after the Dutchman was taken out by Andrea Kimi Antonelli during the opening lap of the race.

Red Bull also scored zero points after Yuki Tsunoda finished in last place, causing some to question whether their car has been built too specifically around Verstappen.

The two McLarens were in a race-long battle and set blistering pace, at one point lapping two seconds quicker than the rest of the field.

Piastri was chasing down Norris after the final wave of pit stops, but there was one near miss that Karun Chandhok branded ‘unacceptable’ when speaking on Sky Sports F1.

Karun Chandhok thinks Franco Colapinto did something ‘unacceptable’ in Austrian GP

As Piastri exited the pits on his final lap, he was overtaking lapped traffic including the Alpine of Franco Colapinto and Red Bull of Tsunoda.

Colapinto was racing Tsunoda and attempted a move at Turn 3, but exiting the corner he drifted over towards Piastri and forced the Australian off track.

Chandhok said it was unacceptable from the Alpine driver, who is currently paid £4 million a year by the team.

“That was unacceptable from Colapinto. There is no reason he should’ve been drifting to the inside on Norris. He’s gone for the move at T3 on Tsunoda and not passed him,” said Chandhok.

“He’s then thinking about getting into the slipstream behind Tsunoda and normally the team would say you have Piastri coming behind to lap you and he’s just drifted into the side of Piastri and ran him off track.”

READ MORE: Who is Alpine 2025 F1 driver Franco Colapinto? Everything you need to know

Franco Colapinto handed penalty by stewards after forcing Oscar Piastri off track

The stewards took a dim view of Colapinto’s actions on track towards Piastri and issued a five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off track.

Colapinto was also given a penalty point on his FIA superlicence, which takes him up to three points in a 12-month period.

It comes during a precarious time for the Argentine, given Colapinto’s place at Alpine is not secure after initially being given until the British Grand Prix.

Alpine has yet to announce that they will extend his agreement, although it emerged over the Austrian GP weekend that this could be the case for the rest of the season as they prioritise car development.