Double yellow-flag penalties wipe out Alpine's Mexican GP points

Alpine lost its entire Mexican Grand Prix points haul after stewards penalized Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly for yellow-flag infringements. The pair finished eighth and 10th, then gained a place each when Oscar Piastri took a post-race 10-second penalty for his Turn 1 clash with Arvid Lindblad. But both Alpine drivers failed to slow sufficiently under yellow flags, erasing eight points.

Why it matters:

Alpine's constructors' fight took a double blow: it surrendered a strong score while Racing Bulls gained. Liam Lawson was promoted to seventh, adding six points and moving Racing Bulls 35 clear of Alpine in their battle for fifth.

The details:

• Colapinto got a 10-second penalty for passing a single waved yellow without slowing enough. He was cleared over a double-waved yellow in the previous sector due to sufficient doubt, but dropped to 15th.
• Gasly received a stop-and-go converted to a 30-second time drop for a double-waved yellow breach. Stewards found his speed reduction insufficient, leaving him 17th with two penalty points.
• Both apologized. Gasly called it "my error"; Colapinto accepted "it is my mistake in the car."
• Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar were promoted to eighth and ninth, while Ryo Hirakawa scored a point on his surprise Haas debut in 10th.

What's next:

Alpine must tighten its yellow-flag procedures quickly; the lost points could be decisive in a tight midfield constructors' fight.