After a hydraulic issue during FP2 in Spain ending Colapinto’s session early, Alpine worked hard to fix the car for Saturday’s qualifying session at the F1 Spanish GP. The team managed to send the Argentine out in Q1, although that ended early after he stopped at the end of the pit lane.
Stopped at the pit exit, Qualifying was over for Colapinto in Spain early doors
Colapinto blocked the pit lane exit to the drivers behind, confirming he had yet another issue. The cause of it has since been announced as a driveline problem. This is an unfortunate incident for Colapinto, after finding performance in FP3. His focus now moves onto Sunday’s Grand Prix, hoping the issue is resolved and he can regain positions.
“Yeah, I don’t really know what it was, but I think a pity.
“We had a good pace in the car, we were looking strongly for the last one. We found a lot of performance from yesterday to today in the car, and also the comeback from the team overnight. We just need to focus on tomorrow now.”
Performance improvements for Colapinto
Alpine brought in two performance upgrades to this weekend’s Grand Prix in Spain. Colapinto can recognise the improvements to his performance and pace, suggesting the upgrades may be working to an extent.
“Yeah, today the car felt good. We were doing good steps forward.
“Still need to do some more steps, but it was looking much better. Just need to focus on tomorrow now.”
The Alpine was performing well enough to make a Q2 appearance if this issue had not appeared. This was proved as the Argentine’s teammate, Gasly, made it through to Q3. On the opening run of Q1, he had been faster than his Grand Prix winning teammate.
“Yeah, I think Q2 we were strong enough to get through Q2. It’s just a bit of a pity, you know what’s happening. It’s frustrating to end quali early, especially when the car was looking good.“
All that is left to do now, is look ahead to Sunday’s race, and how the team can move up into the points. He will start P18.
“Just need to focus on the race now.”
When asked about strategy for tomorrow, Colapinto replied, “I don’t know, we will see.”
