Franco Colapinto scored for the first time with the Alpine team by finishing the Formula 1 Chinese GP in tenth place, but showed frustration with missed opportunities during the race.
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“What a race and what a great day for the team, with both cars in the points. I am happy to score my first points at Alpine, but also equally frustrated, I wanted more. Some things didn’t go as we expected today and, although getting into the points zone is an achievement, I know there was more to be done, which is positive for the next races,” said Colapinto.
The Argentine driver highlighted the good start to the race and the team’s strategy: “We had an incredible start and gained many positions. We were comfortably in P5 and P6 before the Safety Car came out, which neutralized the pack, and all the drivers on hard tires, including myself, stayed on track. After that, we did a long stint, but unfortunately I was hit by Esteban (Ocon from Haas) at the pit exit. He apologized later and everything was fine,” he added.
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Colapinto explained the impact of the incident on the final performance: “We lost a bit of downforce with the floor damage and didn’t have enough pace or laps to catch Carlos (Sainz from Williams) at the end. Extra points were literally within our reach! Congratulations also to Pierre (Gasly, his Alpine teammate, who finished P6 in Shanghai). There was good teamwork today and some fun battles on track,” he completed.
Colapinto’s performance reinforces Alpine’s potential, having managed to put both cars in the points zone, and indicates that strategic adjustments could yield even more in the next GPs.
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