How Pierre Gasly’s crash also hurt Franco Colapinto in Monaco

Franco Colapinto explained how team-mate Pierre Gasly’s retirement from the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix also caused significant problems to his own race.

The Argentinian, who started 20th, was utilised as a support to Gasly, who started 18th, however the Frenchman’s race ended on Lap 7 after clouting into Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull at the Nouvelle Chicane.

This left Colapinto as the sole remaining Alpine, and after a change in its plan, finished a creditable 13th place

After the race, Colapinto detailed how his poor starting position compromised his race, and further still by Gasly’s DNF, but also took the positives from the difficult situation.

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“After qualifying P20, it’s super positive to finish P13,” he told media, including Motorsport Week. “It’s the best we got for that, I think. P12, maybe it was possible, but, to be honest, overall it was a decent race for us.

“We just started on the wrong tyre to try and help Pierre. But unfortunately, Pierre’s race was not very long, so then we became the first car.”

“And I tried to do the best strategy possible. I think we managed the situation well after starting with the cars.

“It’s clear to go very long and we took it off very early. So, yeah, decent race, I think. The pace was very good when I had somerthing in the air.

“[We] just need to keep working and understanding better the car.”

‘Not easy to drive’ Alpine exacerbates ‘toughest track’

After a difficult first weekend back in F1 at Imola, Colapinto said it was a “positive” to come out of the race with his car intact, but complained of his struggles with the car.

“Yes, no damage, which is a positive,” he said. “Better than Imola. Also better finish position than Imola, so I think it was a positive.

“It’s just that we really struggled to find the confidence of the car, to get those slow speeds properly. And the car was very disconnected. “So, we just tried to work hard to try and maximise what we were doing over there. But it was always going to be tricky.

Colapinto added that those struggles were exacerbated by the fact he was driving the Monaco circuit for the first time in F1.

“I think Monaco is the toughest track of the calendar. You know, it’s not a nice track to do when you’re debuting with the team. It was never going to be easy. The car was also not easy to drive. So, nothing really helped.

“But honestly, the most positive thing is that we maximised the car. We took the maximum out of that weekend, and that’s what it’s all about. So yeah, we’ll be stronger in Barcelona.”

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