Franco Colapinto: "In the wet I was closer than in the dry" | OneFootball

The Argentine driver was eliminated in Q2 under rainy conditions, analyzed his frustrating lap, and pointed out improvements in the Alpine in the wet. Now he is focused on recovering positions in Sunday’s race.

Franco Colapinto will start from 15th position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix of Formula 1 after being eliminated in Q2 of the qualifying session. The Argentine experienced a qualifying session marked by rain at the wheel of his Alpine on the urban circuit in the United States and came close to reaching Q3. His teammate Pierre Gasly will start Sunday’s race in 10th after advancing to the final part.

Once the on-track activity was over, Colapinto approached the paddock to speak with the media and share his thoughts. “I was having a good penultimate lap. I was improving a lot, by a second. And I hit the curb in the penultimate corner and the car got all sideways. After that, I didn’t have battery left for the last lap, with the tires very hot, I couldn’t do the last lap. It’s a shame because that lap was pretty good. I don’t know if it would have been 10th, but I definitely would have been 11th,” said Franco, referring to the penultimate lap he was completing in Q2.

The Argentine managed to get through the first qualifying round with the 11th fastest time (1:54.847), but was on the verge of continuing in the race at the end of Q2. He was improving his times, but that small off-track moment took away his chance to keep fighting and he ended up 15th (1:53.683). His teammate Pierre Gasly made it to Q3 and will start 10th after setting a best lap of 1:51.540 in Q3.

“It was a tough quali, good experience but very difficult, very little grip, a lot of spray, tires that overheated a lot. Tomorrow we’ll work to be better,” said the Argentine about a particularly challenging session that saw heavyweights like Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon, who was involved in an accident, eliminated in Q1.

“It’s a shame because we didn’t make it to Q3 in the end, but I think we were closer than in the dry and that’s good. We need to understand a bit the problem we have in the dry, but in the wet we were a bit better. We’ll have to work to improve and have a good race tomorrow,” he said, looking ahead to Sunday’s event, which will see Lando Norris start from pole ahead of Max Verstappen.

It’s worth remembering that the three practice sessions were not very representative due to the complex track conditions. The drivers reported that the asphalt was considerably slippery and, due to low temperatures and the rain that hit the circuit, grip barely improved. In fact, almost no team was able to run with full tanks. In FP1, Colapinto finished in last place with a time of 1:36.758, which put him 1.169 seconds behind Pierre Gasly.

The Argentine made a leap in the second practice and posted times similar to his teammate. Nevertheless, he finished in 16th place with a lap of 1:34.824, 0.451 seconds behind the Frenchman. It’s worth noting that Franco was improving his time, but had to abort his fast lap due to a red flag. “It was quite a complicated day in which I never felt comfortable with the car,” he said in the press conference after the session.

The heavy storm that hit the circuit forced the drivers to use intermediate tires during the first half hour of FP3. Colapinto went out on track 32 minutes after the green light, when the track was starting to dry. The driver from Pilar set his fastest lap at 1:36.305, which put him in 16th position. Gasly finished tenth with a time of 1:35.562, 0.743 seconds ahead of his teammate.

The main race of the Las Vegas Grand Prix of Formula 1 will start on Sunday at 01:00 (Argentine time) and will feature a total of 50 laps. In 2024, with Williams, Colapinto finished in 14th place after starting from the pits due to the heavy crash he suffered in qualifying.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.