‘It’s a very odd disconnect’: Colapinto’s regret after Monaco Q2 exit | OneFootball

Franco Colapinto completed the qualifying session for the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix and, after being eliminated in the second stage (Q2), secured 14th place on the starting grid for this Sunday’s race.

Although the final result marked an improvement over the 19th place he recorded in the morning during the third free practice session (FP3), the Argentine Alpine driver did not hide his dissatisfaction with the performance and balance of his car on the streets of the Principality.

Criticism of the car and balance issues

After getting out of the car, the 23-year-old from Buenos Aires Province assessed his performance in the press conference and pointed to the dynamic behavior of the A526, highlighting alarming instability in the braking system:

“The car feels very disconnected, locking up a lot at the front. When you don’t feel very comfortable with the car, I think you lose a lot of time. In the faster corners, the first sector was good. In the second sector and the slower corners, I’ve been struggling a lot this weekend. The car feels very disconnected, locking up a lot at the front. When I move it to the rear, it locks at the back; when I move it to the front, it locks at the front. It’s a very strange disconnect and we haven’t been able to figure it out.”

Not enough progress and focus on Spain

Although the level he has shown this year is above the standards of the 2025 season, the Argentine driver regretted not being able to extract the car’s true potential and break into the top ten (Q3). Colapinto explained the mathematical gap to the leaders as a result of that lack of fine-tuning in the setup:

“We took a small step forward, but on a track like Monaco, when you don’t have that confidence, it gets complicated. So I was very close and I think, with that bad feeling I had all weekend, I was probably two tenths off Q3, or a little less. It’s good, but obviously it’s a shame because the car had what it took to get through if we had set it up properly.”

To close, the Pilar native tried to turn the page quickly, showing optimism both about gaining positions in Sunday’s demanding race and about facing the next round of the world championship calendar, scheduled for Sunday, June 14:“We’ll work to be a little better tomorrow and come back stronger in Barcelona.”

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