Franco Colapinto, far from the fight in the United States sprint

The Argentine suffered a puncture at the chaotic start of the short race on date 19 and could do little in the rest of the competition.

Chaotic start, puncture, slow pace and not much else. This was Franco Colapinto’s sprint in the United States GP. The Argentine driver had already said on Friday, after qualifying for the short race, that the A525 had not adapted well to the characteristics of the Austin circuit. A very stiff chassis with a bumpy floor resulted in a lot of bounce. And none of that was solved in this Saturday’s competition.

The mess in the first corner took its toll on Colapinto. Oscar Piastri’s collision with Nico Hülkenberg led to the crash involving Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso was also involved… Of course, when those starting further back arrived at the area, they found pieces of car and violent braking everywhere. Some won, like Yuki Tsunoda, who advanced 11 places. Others suffered, like Franco, who received a touch from Isack Hadjar and broke a cover. The Alpine driver had to go through the pits to change tires and was at the back of the pack, which was turning with a safety car.

From there, it was just going around at a slow pace with no chance of making any progress. In fact, the positions he managed to climb were due to abandonments (Lance Stroll’s rude mistake left him and Esteban Ocon out of the race) and the ten-second penalty to Oliver Bearman for gaining position outside the track were the reasons why he arrived 14th.

“They touched me from behind and punctured a tire; I don’t know what happened. I lack rhythm, we’re not fast. We have to understand what’s happening for qualifying and be a little better. I didn’t feel more comfortable than I did on Friday,” was Colapinto’s brief explanation.. The Enstone team’s performance is not good at all in Austin: Pierre Gasly had jumped to eighth place in multiple initial accidents, but he could not defend himself from Kimi Antonelli and Liam Lawson to finally be tenth.