Jeremy Clarkson has been criticised after joking that Alpine driver Franco Colapinto should receive a Formula One grid penalty because he is Argentinian.
Clarkson made the remark during an interview with Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, where he had been invited as a guest of Colapinto’s team.
“Franco’s got a grid penalty for being Argentinian… Probably. Well I’d give him one for that,” Clarkson said.
He later added: “That’s just because of what happened when we went there.”
Colapinto’s manager, Jamie Campbell-Walter, condemned the comments and said nationality should not be used as the basis for a joke in the sport.
“Jeremy Clarkson’s comments about Franco’s nationality were completely unacceptable,” he said. “There is no place for remarks like this in Formula One, regardless of who makes them or whether they are intended as a joke.”
Colapinto did have a 10-place grid penalty for the race at the Circuit of the Americas, but it was imposed after changes were made to components of his car’s power unit.
Clarkson’s previous Argentina controversy
The incident has revived memories of Clarkson’s highly controversial visit to Argentina in 2014 while filming Top Gear with Richard Hammond and James May.
Clarkson was driving a Porsche 928 whose number plate appeared to reference the 1982 Falklands War. The presenters faced angry protests, with stones thrown at their vehicles, and later left the country after the dispute intensified.
Protesters gathered outside the hotel where the presenters were staying, while Clarkson subsequently said the experience had been the most terrifying incident he had encountered, despite having visited Iraq and Afghanistan.
The remarks about Colapinto come amid continuing political sensitivity between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands. Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, said in September that his country “needs to recover” the islands.
