Franco Colapinto was able to set a positive exclamation mark in free training for the Formula 1 race of Zandvoort. The Argentinian, who continued to wait for his first point of the season, drove into the top 10 on Friday: he landed in ninth with around a second behind. For him, it was a significant increase after 18th place in the first training session and one that surprises him.
“The car is strange,” he says after training. “Suddenly I go out and have twice as much grip, and I don’t quite understand why.” With significantly more grip, the round is of course easier and the time comes automatically, but to understand why that was, that’s another thing.
After 18th place, the youngster was of course not satisfied: “We had big problems driving the car constant, it was very unpredictable,” he explains. Therefore, Alpine made some changes that helped immediately.
“I’m just more satisfied with the feeling in the car. I was able to drive more constant on the soft tire, the car was a little more predictable. It wasn’t as unpredictable as sometimes,” says Colapinto.
“We just have to find out why that happens. In any case, I don’t always understand why the car suddenly feels much better with a new tire set. So a lot of work tonight, but I think we can have a good day tomorrow.”
Gasly with other set-up
The situation was different with teammate Pierre Gasly, who drove the slow time of all pilots, but was traveling with another set-up. The Frenchman was on the road with significantly more downforce and naturally faster in the curves than his teammate. According to Colapinto, he lost little time on the straight. “Maybe that’s a good approach,” he says.
Gasly’s time was not representative: “I had to break off both times because of red flags,” explains the Frenchman. “In the end I think that we still got some sectors and a good feeling for the car, so I’m satisfied with what we have learned.”
“It doesn’t look good on the time table because we have not completed many rounds, but there are still some positive points from the day. In my opinion, there is nothing that would be unusual or not working properly on the car,” said Gasly.
“Of course we still have to fine -tune a few things in terms of balance and the usual things, but I think we have a good basis to continue working.”
The question is which approach Alpine chooses on Saturday. “It’s just about working and finding out which package will be best tomorrow,” says Colapinto. “We have to continue building and hopefully start tomorrow with a good balance and a strong car.”
Then what is in? Wait! “I think some cars are definitely outside of our league, like the Astons, and I think Williams looks really strong,” says Gasly. “So I’m not sure, I am not really trying to count numbers together, but just want to bring the car so that we can get the best out, and then we see what it looks like tomorrow.”