The Pilar native explained the reason for his overtaking of Pierre Gasly at the United States Grand Prix, a maneuver he executed despite an order from his team. The driver finished the race in 17th place.

With two laps remaining, Alpine engineers asked Colapinto not to overtake Gasly. Colapinto ignored the instruction.

He later defended his action:"I think it was the right thing to do." His argument centered on pace: "I was going much faster. He had slightly older tires and was a second or so slower."

Colapinto justified the decision as necessary in light of the threat posed by Gabriel Bortoleto.

He declared that the overtake was"the best thing to do given the situation we were in" and downplayed the conflict: "We were fighting for 17th place, and there's no point in arguing about these things. I did the best thing."

No Alpine member has yet issued any comments on the incident. A statement from Flavio Briatore, the team's sporting advisor, is awaited.

On the racing front, the United States Grand Prix, round 19 of the World Championship, saw Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) comfortably win with a time of 1:34:00.161, who achieved a perfect weekend by also winning the Sprint. The podium was completed by Lando Norris (McLaren) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).

Leclerc was the star, fending off the McLarens and recovering from ninth place after a pit stop on lap 23.

Franco Colapinto, who had previously finished 14th, finished the race 17th in his Alpine, one lap behind the winner, and completed his performance with the aforementioned overtake of his teammate Gasly.

With this result, Verstappen closes the gap in the Drivers' Championship, although Oscar Piastri (McLaren), who finished fifth, retains the lead with 346 points, followed by Norris with 332.

The race also saw the retirement of Carlos Sainz (Williams) due to a collision with Kimi Antonelli, as well as a dangerous maneuver by Oliver Bearman (Haas) that nearly took him out.

The next stop on the calendar will be the Mexican Grand Prix, to be held on Sunday, October 26 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

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