Franco Colapinto discused the events of Austin ahead of the F1 Mexico City GP. The Argentine driver joined F1 last year replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams in 2024. He has never had a full year contract but signed on as a reserved driver for Alpine this year. He quickly replaced Jack Doohan after the Miami race, and got his best result at the Dutch GP where he finished eleventh.
Colapinto is making waves ahead of the F1 Mexico City GP due to his decision to disobey team orders last weekend at COTA. He was told to stay behind his teammate, Pierre Gasly, as the Frenchman was saving fuel at the end. He rightly claimed there was pressure from Sauber’s Bortoleto and chose to pass his own teammate despite team orders. There was added tension when Colapinto finished 17th while Gasly finished 19th.
Alpine calms the tension
Alpine was disappointed, but they focused on calming both drivers ahead of the F1 Mexico City GP. Colapinto has yet to publicly apologise but seemed settled with the matter choosing to put it behind him and focus on the F1 Mexico City GP weekend in a print media session.
“We spoke with the team and we discussed everything and I think it’s all quite good and clear.“
Focusing on the car not the drivers
The Alpine driver was clearly not going to apologise for racing his teammate and disobeying team orders. He chose to highlight deficits in the car as more important than anything else. When asked if he did anything wrong, he discussed working on making the car better rather than address any issues between drivers ahead of the F1 Mexico City GP.
“I think we are doing a good job as a team and we are moving forward from it. We discussed and we are I think trying to make the car better is our biggest issue at the moment and as a team we move forward and hopefully we can be a better team here.“
Struggles with the car
There was pressure from behind Colapinto in the COTA race, causing him to push past Gasly. Sauber’s Bortoleto was close on his heels during the final laps of the US GP. Colapinto made the claim that he wasn’t able to maintain a slow pace behind Gasly and ward off the Brazilian.
He had more to say about his struggles with the car than struggles with direction from his team. He is working on handling a tricky car ahead of the F1 Mexico City GP.
“I think I’m struggling generally with the car and on my side it’s tricky to find the right balance at the moment and I’m focusing on that. And of course we are racing and sometimes the decisions are by milliseconds and are tricky to make.“
No contract in sight
Given that this is only his second year, Colapinto should be working on securing a contract this season. He is continuing to try and make a good impression on Alpine ahead of the F1 Mexico City GP.
The 22-year-old admits he was not sure what decision he would have made last Sunday if he had a contract for next year and beyond.
“I think we managed very well so far the team calls and the team decisions. Of course was a different call to the ones that we had and it was another tricky situation that we understood well after the race and we went through it together.
“And I think it’s not good of course not having a contract. I mean I cannot compare because I never really had a contract at this point of the season.
“But I don’t know what my decision would have been or how I would have reacted if I would have already had a contract for three or four years, or at least the next one.”
