After months of speculation and a media day in which the Center for Attention was perhaps, Franco Colapinto finally returned in a Formula 1 car in Historic Icola during the first two practice sessions ahead of Emilia Romagna’s Grand Prix.
Colapinto registered the faster time in FP1 and improved P13 at the end of FP2, giving the new alpine driver an impulse of confidence in the final practice session on Saturday and the qualification.
“It’s great to be back in a Formula One car on a race weekend again. I am starting to be in a happier place with the car after my first day. There is still a lot of work to do with the configuration, but I am beginning to be more comfortable,” said Colapint in the collapse of equipment. “I still have a lot to learn and get used to it, but I am accumulating and at the end of the day I was beginning to be a bit more competitive.
The new Alpine driver reported that the A525 was “quite strong” in the first two sessions.
“The car looks quite strong, special with Pierre [Gasly] So I’m sure we’re in the mixture. The qualification will be complicated with traffic, we will have to be in it since the beginning of the first quarter, “added Colapint. In general, I have pleased my first day and I am anxious to qualify.”
On the other side of the garage, Pierre Gasly missed two of the biggest surprises of the day. Gasly was in P6 when the clock expired at the end of FP1, and improved to the duration of P3 in the second session.
“It has a Good Friday for us the beginning of the day. From the first round, I could say that the car felt good and we have interrogation signs of the last race, so it is certainly positive. The car reacts how I want, Eth, Ethy and Ethy, Ethy and Feth and F. potential is certainly there,” Begen Gasly.
However, it was not a complete clean FP1 for the alpine controller. Near the end of the first session, Gasly had an unfortunate incident when a rabbit ran to the circuit.
“We had a small incident at the end of free practice 1, which was completely inevitable,” Gasly transmitted. “A hare jumped along the track before curve 14 and unfortunately hit my front wing. It was one of those things, nothing I could do, and we had some damage in the car as a result of the impact. The team did a great job to repair or minimize.
Gasly believes that Alpine is “in the mixture” for the third quarter of this week.
“On the way, as always, it is very close. We just have to maintain this impulse, try to find more rhythm and try to be in the mixture for the top 10 in qualification. I am excited and ready for the rest of the weekend here in Imala,” Gasly added.
Both drivers made a mixture of the C5 middle tire and the soft tire C6. The Soft C6 compound will make its debut this week at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The final practice session begins on Saturday at 6:30 am east time/12: 30 pm local time. Then it is directly to the qualification, which begins at 10:00 am Eastern/4: 00 pm local time.
