Franco Colapinto finished the Chinese Grand Prix with a bittersweet aftertaste.
Despite his more than deserved tenth place, which gave him his first point in Alpine, the result failed to disguise frustration over a race that, according to his vision, was marked by bad luck and several problems with the car.“Obviously it was good to have scored points, sad to have scored it because we were lucky because Max (Verstappen) stayed if I hadn't added it, it's not good to have been left behind slower cars than us,” said the Argentinian.
Regarding the condition of his A526, the man from Pilares explained: “I had a lot of graining in the last stint, I had a lot of damage to the floor, the rear right part was all broken, it had a big hole in the back floor and it lost a lot of charging points, but that's good.” “I had a lot of bad luck, I'm angry,” he added
.
One of the episodes that marked his career was the touch with Esteban Ocon, although Colapinto made it clear that this was not the main reason for his anger: “We started with a different strategy, I passed many, I was ahead and then because of a car that stands still they put a safety car that doesn't make sense. In Melbourne we needed a safety car and they put it virtual because of a car setting fire. It doesn't make sense and that's what gives me the most anger. Every time I'm there to do something good, there's always something holding me back.”
Beyond the anger, Colapinto stressed that he left everything on track and that this feeling is what ends up fueling frustration when the result doesn't go well. “I felt like it was one of my best races, pushing every lap, doing what I could, falling behind Pierre in the first few laps... All so that he can leave later. That's what there is, we have to keep working, we have to find the performance. We have to work to improve
.”
At the close of the race, there was also an intense duel over the finish with Carlos Sainz for ninth place. The Argentinian acknowledged that he was close to attempting a risky maneuver, but preferred not to compromise
the result.“With Carlos I was quite warm that he beat me here, I wanted to spend it, I was about to throw myself anywhere, it was going to be a disaster but I held back and didn't throw myself at him and I stayed there tenth, but nothing, I really wanted to throw myself anywhere and luckily I didn't do shit,” he said.
Thinking about what is coming, the Alpine driver assured that the team must continue working to find more performance and is confident that he will be able to make a leap in the next round of the calendar.
“We don't have to give up, we don't give up here, but the truth is that nothing is coming in our favor, it's a shame but nothing, a lot to work on I think, a lot of things to understand, I wasn't lucky in general, so nothing, we're going to keep pushing with the whole team, we're going to keep trying to bring more performance and come back stronger to Japan,” he concluded.
