* Franco Colapinto’s word after the Las Vegas GP
Franco Colapinto recovered from the hard blow he suffered in qualifying and finished 14th in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which saw Max Verstappen be crowned the category champion for the fourth consecutive time. The mechanics of Williams They did an exhaustive job to fix the car and get it ready for the race, and the Argentine thanked them with another notable performance on the track.
The driver from Pilar started with hard tires from the pits due to the different configuration changes that the Grove-based team made to their car. Despite this, he showed great performance on the track and was able to advance five positions thanks to good tire management and several overtakes. It is this last line, an advance on Valtteri Bottas on lap 33, whom he had already passed previously.
However, Colapinto explained in a press conference the complications he had when starting the race and the difficulties that arose on the track. Besides, He left a particular definition about the hard blow in Q2 and referred to his expectations for the race in Qatarnext Grand Prix of the season.
“In the race it was complicated, the first stint had a very strange balance that had a lot of oversteer. “I couldn’t control the back well, the car moved a lot and I couldn’t load the rear tires without them moving,” he explained.
* Colapinto highlighted Verstappen’s work after his title
At the same time, he added: “The first stint was difficult and then the car settled in a little, with the laps it improved and the second stint was more comfortable. I had a little more clean air and in the third stint too. I think I was aggressive with Magnussen, they asked me if I could try to do something and all the front tires started to open. It had a lot of graining, they all opened in the middle and it didn’t have any grip.”
On the other hand, He also spoke about the hard crash he suffered in qualifying:“Luckily I was fine, but I was half dumb when I got out of the car. I was half high, I didn’t know what was happening”. However, he was frustrated by not getting a good result. “It was hard. The truth is that yesterday was a very complicated day. I had a very good pace, I could have gotten into Q3 on that lap. It was a shame, again with a lot of damage. A weekend when the classification turned around,” he commented.
“I had been having a very good qualifying, I felt very good in Q1. He had been making good laps very consistently. Then, in Q2 they saw that Gasly braked coming out on the straight, he made a good gap. He had four seconds, he had a good gap behind him. When I left 16 it started to brake and I got closer, then I opened the lap to eight tenths and it was very close, I lost a lot of aerodynamic force,” he argued. To this, he added: “In the end I had to go to the limit to try to get into Q3. I went too far with the walls and unfortunately it went wrong. But I’m angry because yesterday I could have entered Q3, I had a good pace and I felt very good and comfortable with the car. We showed that we had the pace in Q1, we finished eighth and it was good in the first round of Q2. It’s a shame because we had a good car this weekend.”
On the other hand, he talked about his first experiences on street circuits. “I have a lot of fun, I hadn’t driven much on street circuits, but I really like going close to the walls. Not as much as yesterday, but it’s something that gives you adrenaline and we love that. Yesterday was a small mistake that cost me dearly in the end. Luckily today they gave me the OK from the medical side so I can run. “The guys in the box did an impeccable job to get the car back into the race,” he said.
At the same time, he told about the problems that the mechanics had: “Two hours before leaving, the oil pump broke and they had to open the entire gearbox again, remove the entire engine. Because of what these kids work for, we have to make them a statue.. It is part of Formula 1, there are always many risks and we have to continue like this. With our heads held high for Qatar and score a couple of points”.
In this way, beyond their clash in Interlagos which made it impossible for him to finish the race, the Argentine is showing great consistency in his results: he finished in 12th place in his debut in Monza and then added four points after finishing in 8th place in Azerbaijan. He then finished 11th in Singapore, was 10th in the United States GP to score again and finished 12th in Mexico.
What’s next for the 21-year-old? He must complete the Formula 1 season with the last two races on the calendar, with the expectation of being able to find a seat in the 2025 season, where Flavio Briatore affirmed the interest of Alpine for adding it. Franco will travel to the Middle East to compete in the Qatar Grand Prix on December 1, while he will complete his work on the 8th of the same month in the circuit of Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi.
