AUSTIN — Everywhere Franco Colapinto goes cameras, and smiles, follow.
Formula 1’s newest star has developed a passionate fan base over just three races, with the Williams driver himself noting on Thursday to the media that “I don’t see any Formula One driver that has as much support as I from their fans.” That fanbase is likely to grow even more after his performance on Friday during Sprint Qualifying, as he pushed into SQ3 and will start tenth on the grid when the lights go out Saturday.
Were it not for a mistake early in his push lap during SQ3, Colapinto might have started even higher on the grid. Colapinto spun into Turn 1, which comes at the end of a steep incline to begin the lap, and could not make up the time over the rest of the lap.
Still, it was a “great performance” according to Sven Smeets, the team’s Sporting Director, who highlighted how the Circuit of the Americas is track the young driver is experiencing for the first time.
“Franco passed into SQ2 with a good lap and went through into SQ3 with his only push lap. In SQ3 he made a mistake and had to settle for P10 in the end,” said Smeets in the team’s post-qualifying report. “A great performance at a new track with only one Free Practice session. “
Colapinto was a bit harsher in his assessment, expressing some frustration with the mistake in SQ3.
“It was a good Sprint Qualifying session, but I’m frustrated with myself as we were in a good place to beat the cars around us, but I made a mistake in Turn 1 which cost me. I tried to recover the time, but it wasn’t enough. Sadly, it wasn’t a clean lap in Q3, and it felt like we should’ve been in the top eight,” said Colapinto. “I need to learn from this and continue to understand the limit of the tires. However, after having only an hour to learn the track with this car, I made some good progress but felt like there was more there. We are starting close to the points tomorrow so let’s see what we can do.”
There was also frustration on the other side of the garage as Alexander Albon missed out on SQ2 after enduring this dramatic spin during SQ1:
In a sense, this was an incredible save from Albon, as this spin in SQ1 could have ended much differently.
“It was my mistake today; I should’ve been able to avoid that kerb, however we went for a bit of a stiffer car in Sprint Qualifying compared to FP1, so I just found it a bit too stiff from one session to the next,” said Albon. “The car would’ve got us into SQ2 so I don’t think we need to make too many changes, it’s more about the tires which are flat-spotted and can’t be used for the race tomorrow. We’ll have to see what we can do with the race run now as it feels slightly compromised.”
But the story right now is Colapinto, who is in a good position to pick up his second points result over his short F1 career. Given his performance to date, it might be getting harder and harder to deny him one of the final spots on the grid next season. Colapinto remains in the discussion for the seat at Sauber alongside Nico Hülkenberg, and days like this one — even with the spin in Turn 1 — will only help his cause.
