Franco Colapinto’s Rocky Start with Alpine Amid High Expectations

The weekend for Franco Colapinto, the new Alpine racing driver, was marked by a significant setback, as he crashed during the qualifying session at Imola. This incident came after a promising debut in Formula 1, replacing Jack Doohan just six races into the season.

The Fateful Crash and Its Aftermath

Colapinto’s crash occurred on the last lap of Q1, sending him spinning into the gravel trap and barriers at Tamburello. This incident was a blow for the Argentine driver, who had already experienced heavy shunts during his nine-race stint with Williams the previous year in Brazil and Las Vegas.

Even Flavio Briatore, the acting Alpine boss, expressed concern about Colapinto’s performance. On Friday at Imola, he stated, “He needs to be fast, not crash and score points. I’m only asking him to do three things, not 10. If he does them well, he’ll drive forever.

Encouraging Signs Amidst the Chaos

Despite the crash, a broader view of Colapinto’s weekend reveals some promising signs. The anticipation was high when he returned to the paddock as an Alpine racing driver, and his loyal Argentinian fans were eager to witness his return.

While many felt it was harsh for Alpine to replace Doohan after just six races of the season, it was now on Colapinto to prove that he could achieve what the Australian couldn’t. So, did he?

Closing the Gap with Gasly

After helping the team with the simulator in Enstone and participating in a series of testing of previous cars (TPC) events, Colapinto spent Friday’s practice sessions getting acclimated to driving the Alpine A525 for the first time.

Despite finishing practice one in 17th place, 0.677 seconds behind his team-mate Pierre Gasly, Colapinto managed to reduce this gap significantly by the end of the second practice session, achieving 13th place, while Gasly was an impressive third on what he called the team’s best Friday of the year.

Colapinto continued to improve during Saturday’s third and final practice session ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, descending to 18th fastest in the charts but finishing just three places and two tenths behind Gasly.

A Weekend Marred by Mistakes and Misfortune

The crash that occurred in the final seconds of Q1 undermined Colapinto’s weekend. However, he wasn’t alone in making mistakes. Several other drivers also experienced incidents during the practice sessions.

Despite these setbacks, Colapinto demonstrated solid tyre management in the first stint, a weakness that is often a challenge for rookies. He was one of the last drivers to get rid of the medium Pirelli tyres when he pitted on lap 22.

Looking Ahead: Learning and Adapting

The one-place penalty that Colapinto incurred due to a miscommunication with the team regarding when to leave the garage after Tsunoda’s accident didn’t help in Sunday’s race, nor did the couple of places he lost in the opening lap.

Nevertheless, he still managed to showcase good pace compared to those around him, providing optimism for future races. “The most important thing is that we had the pace and that compared to those around us, we were very strong,” Colapinto said. “After that, we have to work to keep learning and understanding the car a little more.

The end result was an unspectacular 16th place in Imola for Colapinto, who didn’t fulfil all of Briatore’s expectations, but neither did his teammate following the mistake that cost Gasly the opportunity to score points. Despite this rocky start, Colapinto remains optimistic about the future, stating, “I think we have good data to go into the next races with a little more learning and a little more comfortable with the car.