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Colapinto blames car after qualifying 13th in Barcelona
🇦🇷 Argentina /Sports

Colapinto blames car after qualifying 13th in Barcelona

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported

- Franco Colapinto qualified 13th for the Barcelona Grand Prix, blaming his Alpine car for underperforming.- He noted the car lost grip and wore out its tires quickly, struggling with stability.- Despite issues, Colapinto remains hopeful for points in the main race.

Argentine driver Franco Colapinto secured 13th place in qualifying for the Barcelona Grand Prix, expressing frustration with his Alpine car's performance. He stated that the vehicle did not respond as he intended, losing grip throughout the lap and rapidly wearing down its rear tires.

I tried to extract everything I could from the car, I think I tried to go with the knife between my teeth and the lap line, but the car doesn't do what I want.

— Franco ColapintoColapinto's assessment of his car's performance during qualifying.

"I tried to extract everything I could from the car, I think I tried to go with the knife between my teeth and the lap line, but the car doesn't do what I want," Colapinto said. He further described the car as losing grip on almost the entire track and running out of rear tires halfway through the lap. He even joked that they were slower than Formula 2 cars.

The car lost grip on almost the entire track and ran out of rear tires halfway through the lap.

— Franco ColapintoColapinto describing specific issues with his car's handling.

Colapinto qualified ahead of his teammate Pierre Gasly, who will start 14th. The session was dominated by George Russell of Mercedes, who took pole position, with Kimi Antonelli finishing third. Other notable drivers included Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc, who crashed his Ferrari.

More slow than F2 we were going. Maybe Nico, Nicolás Varrone, another Argentine of 25 years who competes in that category, was faster.

— Franco ColapintoColapinto's humorous comparison of his car's speed to Formula 2.

Colapinto explained that the team had tested mechanical modifications in previous sessions but failed to resolve the car's stability issues. "We didn't find the weekend's turnaround, I turned the car around for FP, I turned the car around for the qualy, it does nothing, nothing works," he stated, admitting the car nearly hit the walls three times. Despite these challenges, Colapinto remains optimistic about his chances in the main race, believing there are opportunities to score points from 13th on the grid.

We didn't find the weekend's turnaround, I turned the car around for FP, I turned the car around for the qualy, it does nothing, nothing works.

— Franco ColapintoColapinto detailing the team's struggles to fix the car's issues.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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