Franco Colapinto starred in a historic day in Monza by achieving the best starting position of his career in Formula 1. The Alpine driver recorded the eighth best time in qualifying, with 1:22.220, but will start the Italian Grand Prix from seventh place due to a penalty carried by Kimi Antonelli.
In this way, the Argentine surpassed his previous best qualifying performances: he had started eighth in Azerbaijan 2024, when he was competing for Williams, and also in Miami 2026. During this season, he had also started tenth in Canada.
The performance on the legendary Italian circuit will allow Colapinto to face the race from a privileged position and with a concrete opportunity to fight for points.
Pierre Gasly achieved an unexpected pole for Alpine
The main protagonist of the qualifying was his teammate, Pierre Gasly, who surprised everyone by taking the pole position with a time of 1:21.786.
The Frenchman beat George Russell of Mercedes by just 60 thousandths, while Oscar Piastri of McLaren finished third, 0.180 seconds behind the leader.
The result had special significance for Alpine because the team managed to place both of its cars in Q3 and achieved a pole that was not among their expectations. “It’s quite incredible, I think it’s a surprise for the team as well. It’s not that we expected to get the pole. Pierre had a very good qualifying,” Colapinto expressed.
Colapinto explained what he lacked to get closer to Gasly
The Argentine acknowledged that his performance was below Gasly's and noted that he will need to analyze what happened during the different sessions: “For me, it’s about understanding the why and the reason for not improving much between sessions. Pierre was making bigger jumps than I was, and I wasn’t making the improvements. I couldn’t find those improvements that he had. In Q1 I was at the same time and then I fell back a bit. So, I need to understand a bit the reasons and the why.”
Colapinto finished qualifying 0.434 seconds behind Gasly, a difference he considered an aspect to work on despite the excellent collective result. “Obviously happy with the qualifying. But being far from Pierre, a bit bitter, although happy for the team. We are very happy. We hope they can celebrate before the race. Great result, both cars in Q3, in Monza,” Franco pointed out.
What Colapinto said about his performance in Monza
The Argentine driver also identified some sectors of the Italian track where he couldn’t find the expected rhythm: “There was a bit more. I think a couple of corners were costing me the whole session. In Q1 I felt better, then it started to cost me a bit more. I couldn’t find the rhythm when the track was improving. That was a bit what I was missing.”
Additionally, he highlighted Gasly's experience as a reference for continuing to evolve: “It’s part of the experience and what I have to learn from an experienced driver like Pierre, who in the end makes those big jumps from session to session. It’s the key to finishing qualifying well, learning from the track and how to improve.”
The Argentine also valued the work done by Alpine: “The improvements were very good. They gave us a big leap, that was positive.”
And he added: “In my case, learning from Pierre's qualifying, which was very good to make a leap for the future.”
