It was yet another tough weekend for young Franco Colapinto, who has crashed three times in the past two race weeks: two times at the Brazilian GP, and during Q2 of the Las Vegas round last weekend.
Starting from the pits, he made up 6 spots on race day to finish P14, although he was overtaken by Zhou Guanyu on the final lap.
A tough impact
The young Argentinian driver hit the wall at Turn 16 at the end of Q2 with an impact strength of 51G, seemingly suffering a concussion going by his words to ESPN Latin America post-race.
Colapinto broke down his tough Las Vegas GP after the end of his seventh F1 race, recalling how his crash happened, how it felt to return racing after such a collision and how his tough spell has impacted his confidence and mental health.
The Williams driver discussed his race afterwards, focusing on a clean race and keeping it out of the barriers.
“The idea was to have a clean race. Of course, I think it was not ideal after such a big crash to go straight in the race and I wasn’t feeling so comfortable.”
Issues of the weekend
Colapinto struggled in the first stint with a lot of oversteer, and he had graining issues like the rest of the field.
“First thing, I was really, really struggling with the balance. I had a lot of oversteer, very difficult to manage the tyres and it was just not in a good window.
“As the car kept running and the track also kept getting a bit better, it came a bit more towards us, but it wasn’t feeling good at the beginning.”
“I lost a lot of time in the first stint on that strategy, a lot of dirty air and the tyres were opening very quick, a lot of graininess straight away in dirty air and just a lot of sliding.
“So, it was a very difficult race to manage in terms of strategy, in terms of pitstops, of all that graining and degradation that we had.
“To focus now on the next races, “he concluded, thinking already about the next two legs of the triple-header, which will feature rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
His Q2 accident
He admitted that the toughest moment of the entire weekend was to return into the pits and to face his team and mechanics following his crash, which meant they had to put in yet another all-nighter in order to get his car up and running for the following day.
”Yeah, I think that was the hardest part, you know.
“When you are driving, you are going to the limit. For what the situation was in the beginning of the lap, I had to take more risks to try to get into Q3, probably not as much.
“But I tried my best. It was difficult to manage that last run in Q2. We were very close to Gasly at the start of the lap.”
Traffic
The former MP Motorsport driver went on to describe the dynamics of his severe impact, mentioning the traffic he suffered from with Gasly as he was in the dirty air when both of them started their last runs at the end of the session.
“I did a very big gap, I did a 5 or 4 second gap before starting the push.
“And then, I think he [Gasly] really, really slowed down after 16, after that kink to the left. And before starting the lap, he slowed down so, so much, I was 8 tenths behind him.
“Then it was Piastri behind me finishing the lap. I was in a very awkward position and really not ideal, and I started the lap 8 tenths behind Gasly.
“So, I had to take more risks than what I should have. I had a lot of dirty air in that lap.
“It was a tough qualy for us. I think the pace was there to be in Q3, very close. So, it was tough.
“It was a tough day for us because we should have been close to getting into the top 10.
“But today was about finishing the race and signing up the car for the next couple of weekends,” he ended on an higher and more hopeful note.
Positivity is the key
Asked on what Team Principal James Vowles thought about his Las Vegas GP crash and everything that has happened recently, Colapinto was positive.
In spite of the more than understandable disappointment of yet another incident and all the difficulties in rebuilding his car again, the 21-year-old says the British engineer is a terrific leader.
“Well, he wasn’t very happy, but he has always been very, very supportive.
“I always take out of every bad moment very positive things, and it’s every time because of James, of his thinking and his mentality and his way of moving forward as a team leader and as a team, I think.
“I learned a lot from him and he has been an amazing team leader. For the little time that I’ve been working with him, I know how important all this is for him. And it also is for me, you know.
“But when these things happen, when two tough weekends in a row happen like this, the mentality and the will to keep pushing forward and not giving up and always finding a solution to the problems is his strength.
“Always finding a positive thing in the negatives. I think that is very important and it’s what is going to move this team back to the top, hopefully,” he added, highlighting the importance of a successful mindset in order to reach the goals.
Moving forward
Finally, he discussed the impact his earlier mistake had on his confidence as a driver and how much he still believes in his capacities and abilities:
“No, I think at the start of the race I was taking a bit more margin. It’s difficult after a crash like yesterday to get back in the rhythm.
“Only going straight into a race start from the pit lane, it wasn’t what I wanted, but I think slowly I started to get back in the pace. I had a really good and strong second part of the race.”
“I just lost a lot of time, a lot of seconds at the beginning of the race,” he summed up, ready to close this chapter and moving on to the next Sprint weekend.
