Franco Colapinto prepares for his first F1 street race, aiming to build confidence in Alpine’s A525 before the Monaco Grand Prix.
Franco Colapinto is aware he faces a major challenge this weekend in Monaco, for his second race with Alpine F1. However, this is not his first such challenge, as his second and third Formula 1 races last year were in Baku and Singapore with Williams.
“I think Monaco, Baku, and Singapore are circuits where confidence needs to be very high, and you need to build that confidence throughout the laps or sessions, and it’s not very simple,” Colapinto explains.
“It’s even less straightforward for me because I’m still missing a bit of confidence with the car, which is normal after just one race weekend. There’s a lot of pace required, and you need a lot of confidence in the car.”
“Here, where you’re brushing the walls at every corner, you need that confidence, and I think it will come a bit after FP1, even more after FP2, and just continue progressing like I did at Imola. I started a bit far from the limit in FP1, but I got closer and closer until the end of FP3.”
Colapinto Building Race Confidence
The Argentine driver explains how he’s prepared for this challenging race: “A lot of simulator work, and the team has been good at putting me in the right direction and giving me priorities. You need to get the car into the right window, be confident, and it will be a good race.”
While he struggled slightly at Imola, he highlights the scale of the challenge ahead: “What I’m missing is doing more races. I’ve only done one race and probably spent four hours in the car, but the other guys have already done seven races this year, so I’m a few races behind.”
“I haven’t driven on a street circuit yet, so I’m taking it step by step. I need to build confidence, and that comes with laps. I’m just getting to know the car, getting used to its limits, and I think the only way to improve that is by driving.”
“There were things I liked in one team, and there are things I like in the new team. You have different experiences, and I think that’s what’s happening with Carlos [Sainz], it’s what’s happening with Lewis [Hamilton]. And they’ve been driving for so many years.”
But Colapinto isn’t worried, as Alpine is providing strong support: “The team is supporting me a lot, which is great. We’re working towards what we need and what it takes to progress. The weekend went well at Imola, there are still things to learn, but I’m happy to be here.”
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