Clarkson’s Argentina remark draws condemnation from Colapinto’s manager

Jeremy Clarkson said he would give Alpine driver Franco Colapinto a Formula One grid penalty because he is Argentinian, prompting Colapinto’s manager to condemn the remark as unacceptable. Clarkson made the comments during an interview with Sky Sports presenter Martin Brundle at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, according to the account of the exchange. Clarkson joked that Colapinto had received a penalty for being Argentinian and said he would give him one for that reason. He then referred to what happened when he went to Argentina, without further detail in the account of the interview. The remarks’ precise context and intent are not independently established. Jamie Campbell-Walter, Colapinto’s manager, said comments about the driver’s nationality were unacceptable and that remarks of that kind have no place in Formula One, whether intended as a joke or not. The report does not include a separate response from Clarkson or Alpine to the criticism. Colapinto did receive a 10-place grid penalty for the Austin race, but the report attributed it to changes to power-unit components, not his nationality. Clarkson’s comments about hypothetically imposing a penalty were...