Ryo Hirakawa scores point on F1 debut at Mexico GP after double Alpine penalty
A double post-race penalty for Alpine hands Ryo Hirakawa a point on his F1 debut in Mexico.
Ryo Hirakawa has scored his first Formula 1 point on his debut after both Alpine drivers were penalised after the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Hirakawa, who was dramatically parachuted in to Haas as a replacement for the benched Esteban Ocon on Saturday, finished 13th on the road on his unexpected F1 debut at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
A post-race penalty for McLaren’s Oscar Piastri promoted Hirakawa to 12th, before additional punishments for both Alpine drivers saw the Japanese racer vaulted into 10th place.
Franco Colapinto, who finished eighth, and Pierre Gasly, who was P10, were given penalties for failing to slow for yellow flags.
Colapinto was issued with a 10-second time penalty for passing through a single yellow flag and failing to reduce his speed, while Gasly was handed a more severe stop-and-go penalty for the same offence through a double yellow flag sector.
The double-whammy penalty means Alpine has lost the five points it scored, leaving the French squad sixth in the constructors’ championship on 69 points.
It marks a significant blow to Alpine’s hopes of beating Racing Bulls to fifth place in the standings in the remaining four races.
Haas, meanwhile, has gained an additional point earned by Hirakawa.
Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar also benefit by moving up to eighth and ninth respectively.
“There were a lot of things to do today, especially around the start, and lap one - It was not easy, especially here going into Turn 1," Hirakawa said about his race before the penalties were confirmed.
"You’re thinking about braking points and you’ve got cars all around you, so I think I took too much margin because my focus was to finish the race as I wanted to learn. After that, I was trying to learn from what others were doing, and maybe the first stint was tough, but I learned a lot.
"After the Safety Car, with the soft compound, I had more confidence and, after the last one, I had much more confidence and passed two cars, so I’m happy to finish like that. I need to digest this moment, I’m really happy as today was my dream, so I just want to enjoy this moment.”
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