Franco Colapinto: “I was slow the entire race”

The Argentine was very frustrated after the Las Vegas GP in which he finished last among those who reached the checkered flag and with a very slow pace.

Frustrated. This is how Franco Colapinto left the Las Vegas GP, the 22nd round of Formula 1. The Argentine completed one of his weakest weekends since he was anointed as Alpine’s starter, replacing Jack Doohan. At the start of the race he suffered a touch from behind by Alex Albon that compromised his A525, but in any case his pace was slow. “The truth is that it was a frustrating race, I was very slow the whole race. I had zero grip. You couldn’t bend the steering wheel, the back end was slipping. I don’t know if it’s all because of the damage it had or what, but the truth is that the car was a disaster today.. I had zero grip the entire race, at the back, I couldn’t accelerate, I couldn’t turn with the brakes, combine at the entrance because it ran and every time I tried to load the rear wheel it moved. I don’t know if it was all the damage I had, I don’t know how many points there were (NdeR: aerodynamic load), but from what I heard it didn’t make it feel so bad either. A bad race, very bad, and we were going slowly, so nothing very positive,” was the Argentine’s confession.

Colapinto continued in the race until the end and crossed the checkered flag in 17th place, last among the drivers who completed the competition. “I think it’s good to continue doing all the laps and complete the race, despite having damage, but it’s annoying not to have been competitive. I had very, very little grip, I was skidding everywhere and the car really felt very bad. It was difficult in general, we didn’t find the balance at any point in the race. We will have to work for the next one.”

Franco started on hard tires and completed 26 laps before stopping in the pits to put on the medium (the stop lasted four seconds, another of Alpine’s problems, pit time). The Argentine did almost half the race with the yellow tires. “It was a very long stint with tights too, I felt there was a lot of degradation. It was very long. The hard ones felt better, but hey, we stopped very early.”