Once its elimination in the Q2 of the Austria Grand Prix, Franco Colapinto expressed his feelings after completing the 14th place of the classification. Alpine’s Argentine pilot signed a time of 1: 05.288 in the second qualifying batch, which allowed him to overcome the Oliver Bearman line.
Despite the notorious improvements with respect to free practices, the native of Pilar was not conformed only for overcoming the first cut and lamented by the little margin that stopped getting out inside the Q1. “Progress was made “his story began at a press conference. However, he added: “I think I made a small mistake in the 3 and here that everything is so close and so stuck is very difficult. Nothing, a shame because I think when I am a tenth of the top 10 gives me a little anger. You have to continue working. It was a little complicated weekend that we could solve, so now to focus on the race.”
Continuing with his story, the Buenos Aires said: “I felt a little better today, a little closer, but you have to continue progressing”. Since its premiere in Alpine after replacing Jack Doohan, Franco was showing slight career to career, but feels he can still give more. “We made some changes in the car,” he acknowledged. He also confessed that “we are going to try” to get into the fight for the points.
Despite the gestures of frustration, the athlete, within his analysis of how he felt within the Red Bull Ring circuit, was confident again for the future in the season: “I think that in the slow curves, with respect to Canada, we improve a lot. It is now missing in a quick curve a little confidence with the car and here it is full of fast curves. It costs me a little that. You have to continue working, but little by little we will find the way”.
Later, in dialogue with the official transmission of the F1, the Argentine again emphasized his failure in curve 3: “I think I made a small mistake in curve 3 and then the classification is very tight.” Then, he added: “There is a lot of difficulty with the wind at high speed, and I think this wind has made it quite complicated, especially here. There is much to understand and continue learning. But we have found some improvements. It is quite strong. I just need to find confidence.”
Speaking that the team spread in a press release, Franco emphasized that fault that prevented him from advancing to Q3: “In general, we have taken a good step from where we were yesterday, but I feel that there were more out there today. When you see how little ones are the margins, it is very narrow, so without the small error in curve 3 that cost us a tenth and a half, it probably cost us the opportunity to advance to the next session”.
In addition, he remarked that the wind caused the car “to be a bit unpredictable,” although he accepted that it was “the same for everyone.” In his analysis, he remarked: “The car felt better, especially at low speed, however, I was difficult to have high speed confidence compared to the previous sessions, so there is still a little work to do there. I think I’m still finding my site in some curves and understanding what direction go with the car. Now we will focus on tomorrow and give everything to try to advance in the race. ”
Colapinto managed to access Q2 on the limit, with the 15th best record of the first qualifying session. The return of 1: 05.278 reached to get into the second cut, on a track with stable conditions and constant traffic. In Q2, the Argentine could not repeat that performance and was out of the definition for the pole position, in what was his fifth consecutive participation in a weekend of Formula 1 with the Alpine team. Together with Franco and Bearman, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon and Isack Hadjar were also out in the second court.
Flavio Briatore also expressed his analysis of Colapinto y Gasly: “The team has done a good job to find some performance after a couple of difficult training sessions. Pierre was on his way to get a better result, but he has made a mistake and has made a spin in the last curve in his last thrust turn. It is a pity, since if it had not been for that, tomorrow we would have started the race in sixth or seventh position. It is clear that the car was good enough for Q3, but we still have two cars up where they should be. ”
And he pointed to the Argentine: “Franco was in Q1 but too far to reach Q3, Something we have to improve if we want to put ourselves in a more competitive position with the two cars. We will see what holds us tomorrow. It will heat, the strategy and the management of the tires will be important and It is increasingly vital for us to add points given our current position”.
Gasly also expressed his anger about the error in that last batch of Qualy: “Although I am happy to be in the Q3, I am not too happy with my mistake in the last curve when I was in a decent lap. I was at the limit, too much at the end, and I have made a spin, although fortunately I have not suffered damage. Until then, he had forced the car in Q1 and Q2 to be in the top ten. Sometimes the margins are small, but the positive thing is that the performance and potential of the car were there. ”
The weekend for the Argentine had begun with discreet results. In the first free practice (FP1) it was 16 °, with a mark of 1: 06.246, while in the second session (FP2) it backed into the 20th place despite improving its time: 1: 06.176. Only in the third round (FP3) managed to climb positions, signing a 19th place with a record of 1: 05.546, which evidenced a gradual progress in the rhythm of the Alpine car before the classification.
It should be noted that Lando Norris, with McLaren, stayed with the pole position, with a time of 1: 03.971. The podium was closed by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and the McLaren de Oscar Piastri. The Top Ten was completed by Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), George Russell (Mercedes), Liam Lawson (RB), Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine).
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