As Crash.net reports, Jeremy Clarkson managed to turn a routine grid walk chat at the United States Grand Prix into pure chaos. Speaking to Martin Brundle, Naomi Schiff, and Simon Lazenby ahead of qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas, the 66-year-old television presenter delivered remarks that quickly forced a response from Alpine.
Clarkson, who was attending the weekend as a guest of Alpine due to his close ties with the Enstone-based squad whose factory is near his Diddly Squat farm in Oxfordshire, was asked about the team's prospects in Austin. Instead of talking strategy, he took aim at Franco Colapinto's 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his permitted engine components for the season. “Franco’s got a grid penalty for being Argentinian. Probably. Well, I’d give him one for that. But anyway, that’s just because of what happened when we went there,” Clarkson said.
And you just think, most people you have to interview, they’d barely know what a car is. So I find it funny watching you having to do that. I genuinely do. Sorry.
The joke was an explicit nod to the infamous 2014 Top Gear special in South America. Clarkson claimed he was expelled from Argentina by state officials following protests over a Porsche registration plate, H982 FKL, which locals viewed as an intentional reference to the 1982 Falklands War—though Clarkson insisted it was merely an unbelievable coincidence.
The controversial comments did not go unaddressed. Alpine issued a statement, though they refrained from naming the broadcaster directly: "We at Alpine are aware of the comments made by a team guest in a recent television interview in Austin. Franco is our driver and has our full support."
Earlier in the exchange, Clarkson had elaborated on his connection to the French manufacturer. “Since Michael was there, then Fernando, then all through the Kimi Raikkonen years, and then now with Pierre. Because they’re our local team. I mean, the girl that looks after my rabbits at the farm, her dad works for Alpine. So you feel as though you’re part of a family with them,” he stated.
The interview then veered into a rant about celebrity culture infesting the paddock. “I love the way that you’re faced with these people who have literally no idea why they’re here,” he told the presenters, referencing a technical discussion about Eddie Irvine in Canada in '99 under the red flag. “And you just think, most people you have to interview, they’d barely know what a car is. So I find it funny watching you having to do that. I genuinely do. Sorry.”
When the conversation turned to Kim Kardashian, the American reality TV star and Lewis Hamilton's girlfriend who previously made headlines for snubbing Brundle in Monaco, Clarkson admitted he paid it no mind. “I wasn’t watching that. Because I’m sort of not interested in Kim Kardashian if I’m honest. Why would I be interested in Kim Kardashian? I’m here to watch Formula 1, not Kim Kardashian. All the cameras go, ‘Oh, Kim Kardashian’s here!’ Why do I care?”
