Colapinto: 'A much better day and great reward for the team to score with both cars'

Argentine driver Franco Colapinto described Sunday's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix as a "much better day" and a significant reward for his Alpine team, securing points with both cars. Colapinto himself finished tenth, just behind his teammate Pierre Gasly, who initially crossed the line in eighth.

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Today was a much better day and a great reward for the team to score with both cars, something we probably wouldn't have counted on earlier this weekend, considering the performance we were having.

Colapinto received a ten-second penalty for failing to adhere to the speed limit during yellow flag conditions, which dropped him from eighth to tenth in the final classification. He noted that the car performed much better in race conditions than it had throughout the weekend, allowing him to compete with the cars ahead. "We had the pace to fight with those in front of us," Colapinto stated.

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The car felt much better in race conditions and we had the pace to fight with those in front of us.

This result marks a return to points for Colapinto, who achieved his best career finish of sixth in Canada three weeks prior but failed to score in Monaco the following week. He acknowledged the team's impressive work given the car's struggles earlier in the weekend. "We had many problems with the car here, so to come out with this result means we did an impressive job," he commented.

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We had many problems with the car here, so to come out with this result means we have done an impressive job.

Colapinto also highlighted the challenges of tire management during the race, which saw greater degradation than in previous events. However, he credited the team for making the right strategic decisions and executing flawless pit stops, ultimately leading to a strong finish.

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It was a difficult race with tire management and there was greater degradation than in previous races, but as a team we made the right decisions and made the pit stops without problems, so we finished in a good position in the end.