Franco Colapinto considers the Spanish Grand Prix as his best weekend in Formula 1 so far. Ninth on the grid and then seventh at the finish, the Alpine driver believes he has finally managed to bring together all the necessary elements to maximize his potential.
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The Argentine notably stood out in qualifying by reaching Q3 and beating Pierre Gasly for only the second time this season.
On the new Madrid circuit, particularly demanding, he believes he produced some of his best laps since his F1 debut: “It is probably my best race weekend in terms of execution this year. I maximized everything in qualifying and did what I had to do.”
A well-managed Grand Prix
In the race, Colapinto confirmed by making a good start, which allowed him to overtake Oscar Piastri, before benefiting from Lewis Hamilton’s retirement. Alpine also perfectly exploited the only Virtual Safety Car to make its stop, allowing its driver to finish seventh and first behind the top teams.
This result also confirms his progress after already scoring points in Monza. Colapinto mainly explains this improvement by a better understanding of his car: “I just feel in harmony with the car. I am learning and progressing. I think the team did an incredible job and I maximized everything today as well as yesterday, so I am very proud of the result and very excited for what’s next.”
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The 23-year-old driver also acknowledges having been inspired by Gasly, who took pole position in Monza a week earlier.
Continuous progress
Colapinto notably studied how his teammate evolved his driving and energy management between Q1, Q2, and Q3: “He is more experienced and the progress he was making, both in his driving and in energy management, was very clear. I learned from that.”
A method he believes he managed to put into practice in Madrid, where his laps in Q2 and Q3 were particularly strong: “I took a new step and that’s what I was looking for. So I am happy about that.”
Colapinto now hopes to extend this momentum in Baku and during the final rounds of the season.
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