Franco Colapinto has opened up about his feeling in the Alpine A525, the strategy option he was planning to adopt, and the missed opportunities following the unfortunate DNS he encountered at the rain-swept F1 British GP.
After finding the Alpine single-seater rather tricky to handle in the practice sessions, Colapinto’s race weekend only took a turn for the worse as all twenty cars hit the track for qualifying.
The Argentine driver lost control of his car at the final corner and spun into the barriers, bringing out the yellow flags. Despite his attempt to trundle back to the pits, he pulled off the track again near the pit exit. This incident ultimately triggered the red flag and left the 22-year-old down in P20.
While his teammate Pierre Gasly lined up in eighth and ultimately crossed the line in P6 in tricky wet conditions, Colapinto was set to start his race from the pit lane following the repairs Alpine had made to his car under parc fermé conditions. Unfortunately, he stalled his A525 in the pit lane and failed to start, culminating in another frustrating Sunday for the rookie.
Colapinto disappointed after DNS and unable to capitalise on wet race
Speaking in the print media pen after the race, Franco Colapinto reflected on his DNS at the F1 British GP and admitted that he was quite disappointed with the outcome after the difficult Saturday he had already experienced.
Referring to the amazing results Nico Hülkenberg and Lance Stroll had produced on Sunday after registering Q1 exits, the Argentine rookie lamented his inability to capitalise on the chaotic rain-affected race at Silverstone.
Highlighting the tweaks Alpine had made to his car overnight to suit the wet conditions in the race, Colapinto also revealed that he found the A525 easier to tackle as he conducted his reconnaissance laps around the 5.891 km circuit.
“Of course, just know that I couldn’t pull away after the stop. Yeah, pretty sad, just looking forward to this race, especially looking at everything that happened.
“I think some things could have gone our way, looking at Hülkenberg now being up there in the front, Stroll as well starting from the back. So I think there were some opportunities to take.
“And yeah, just sad. Everything felt good on laps to the grid; the car was quite strong. We had a few changes that were looking quite good for today, but yeah, unfortunate.”
Colapinto was planning a switch to slicks before unfortunate stall
Asked if he was planning to bolt on the slick tyres early on like Ollie Bearman and Isack Hadjar had done on the formation lap, Franco Colapinto confirmed that he was intent on pursuing the risky strategy at the F1 British GP before he stalled in the pit lane.
Explaining that he had found the track reasonably dry on the formation lap, the 22-year-old remarked that he considered the slicks to be the right tyre compound at the time.
“Yeah, I was going to try and go on slicks. It looked quite dry on the formation lap and I thought it was the right choice, of course.”
In terms of whether it was a mechanical issue or an error on his part that had resulted in the stall and eventual DNS, Colapinto couldn’t provide a definitive answer to what the origin of the problem was.
“I have no idea. I guess, [the issue was] mechanical; I couldn’t pull away.”
