Franco Colapinto is going through one of his best moments since his arrival in Formula 1 and he made that clear in Suzuka, in the run-up to the Japanese Grand Prix. After scoring his first point with Alpine in China, the Argentine driver was confident at the official press conference of La Máxima, where he analyzed the growth of equipment and its performance, as well as referring to the possibility of holding an exhibition in Buenos Aires, an idea that generates expectation among fans
.When asked about it, Colapinto did not hide his enthusiasm, although he was prudent about the state of affairs: “It would be incredible. It's something I always wanted to do because it's very difficult for the people of Argentina. I have a lot of fans and a lot of people supporting me since I was very young, in F3, and it's been 25 years since an Argentinian driver raced
in F1.”
Along the same lines, he added: “I know it's very difficult for them to go to the races. It's an enormous effort and sacrifice, so for the team and sponsors to be able to take a car there to enjoy and experience it would be incredible.” However, he clarified: “I don't think there's anything confirmed or close, but it's a dream I've had since I arrived in F1. I would love to make it happen. We'll see. I have no news or anything confirmed. It's just a dream for now.”
The chance of seeing him with a car in the streets of Buenos Aires began to gain strength in recent weeks after the statements of Fabián Turnes, Secretary of Sports of the City of Buenos Aires, who explained that there are ongoing talks with the French team to finalize the event. In that sense, and following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to the conflicts in the Middle East, Sundays, April 19 or 26, would be considered as possible dates
.The importance of scoring points
Beyond that illusion of racing on national soil, the 22-year-old driver's focus is on sports. His tenth place in the Chinese Grand Prix marked an important step forward for both him and Alpine. “I was looking for those points for a long time and it was really positive for me and for the team to achieve a double finish in the points after a long time,” he
said.Although he acknowledged that the result could have been better: "We were looking for more. The start of the race looked very positive, we were fifth and sixth and it looked like we could score a lot more points, but the Safety Car hurt
our race a lot.”
The Argentinian remarked on the team's growth and the confidence generated in it by the car's performance: “I'm more satisfied, of course. When you can fight a little later, it makes you feel more confident, it makes you give that little extra in different situations. Last year, unfortunately, we didn't have that. This year looks much better and, of course, the car has taken steps forward and is much closer to the other teams.”
Inthe face of the challenge in Japan, Colapinto anticipated a demanding weekend on a circuit very different from the one in China: “I think it's another new weekend, a new track, very different in energy, in type of curves, very long, very high speed, so it's going to be really different. I think we still need to understand our biggest weaknesses and where we still need to work more. China was a very different track than this one, so we have to see. But I think that in general it's new for everyone. Nobody really knows what it's going to be like and we have to wait.”
