IMOLA, Italy :Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s returning rookie Franco Colapinto crashed heavily in the first phase of qualifying for the Emilia-Romagna Formula One Grand Prix at Imola on Saturday.
The Red Bull smashed backwards into the tyre wall at turn five, the car lifting into the air with the impact. It then flipped before landing upside down on the roll hoop and righting itself again.
Tsunoda climbed out of the car and appeared unhurt but was taken to the circuit medical centre for checks while the session was halted for repairs to the tyre barriers.
“Oh my god! I just saw the video. Is he OK?” exclaimed Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who lost the Red Bull seat to Tsunoda earlier this season, over the team radio after images were shown on the big screens.
The session resumed after a 15-minute break but red flags were waved again when Colapinto, the Argentine preparing for his Alpine debut as replacement for dropped Australian Jack Doohan, crashed.
Colapinto went onto the grass approaching Tamburello and lost control right at the end of the initial session, spinning and hitting the barrier head-on with the front suspension smashed.
The Argentine, who raced nine times for Williams at the end of last year and had a number of crashes while also scoring precious points, had already set a lap time good enough to progress to phase two.
