Franco Colapinto could not improve on his 14th-place starting position at the F1 Austrian GP, and despite flirting with the points early the Alpine driver found himself finishing 15th at the Red Bull Ring as he had incidents with Yuki Tsunoda and Oscar Piastri.
Colapinto in particular had trouble with his middle stint on medium tyres, a 26-lap run that was “crushing to me. I lost a lot of time [with] tyres [and] flat spotting. It was not an easy, I think, middle stint. I lost quite a lot of lap time compared to Pierre.”
An eventful F1 Austrian GP for Colapinto
He was lucky to finish at all after two incidents in a protracted battle with Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda. On lap 31, the two cars made contact, with Colapinto spinning. He would continue with damage as Tsunoda was given a 10-second penalty.
Then, on lap 54, while again fighting for position with the Red Bull, he ran championship leader and one lap ahead Oscar Piastri on the grass, earning his own five-second penalty.
After the race Colapinto said Piastri simply “was in my blind spot and I was focused on Tsunoda. I just really wanted to get past him.”
Colapinto on the hot seat
The incidents come as Colapinto comes to the end of a trial period with Alpine, one that has seen a best finish of just 13th in five races for the team presently at the bottom of the constructors’ championship. Nevertheless, the young Argentine believes he still has the confidence of interim team principal Flavio Briatore going forward.
“I’m not really concerned. I think he has been very supportive and he trusts in the decision he made.
“I am and the team is focusing as well on improving the car. We looked a bit weak today and we just need to do some stuff forward. I think the car has been a bit tricky for me to drive at the moment.[…] It’s quick, but I think the reactivity just didn’t give me the confidence that I needed to push in the high-speed areas.
“It was a tough weekend. I think overall we took some steps forward, but it felt like something didn’t click yet.”
