Cotterill: MP Motorsport left with mixed feelings after ‘bittersweet’ Spielberg weekend

While one driver was left to rue what might have been, MP Motorsport’s other driver secured his second consecutive P2 finish in a Formula 2 Feature Race on Sunday.

Dennis Hauger’s Pole was for nought as he was unfortunate to stall on the Formation Lap, while teammate Franco Colapinto made the alternative strategy work to his benefit with a late charge through to second.

MP Team Manager Jeremy Cotterill was reticent to call the weekend a complete success, instead saying that with the team’s pace, the Dutch squad was deserving of a double podium finish.

“I think Franco drove really well. He managed the tyres really well; he did a great job,” he explained. “There are a few things we need to look into. But of course, it can always be a little bit better. I think he did a great job.

“We’re absolutely gutted for Dennis. On Friday he was perfect, did a great job. We’re still investigating what happened in the Feature Race, but he cannot get any luck. He was so unlucky.

“For us as a team, Franco did a great job today, but we delivered with both cars in Qualifying, did well in the Sprint with both and in the Feature, one was great, but it could and should have been so much better as a team. Both drivers deserved a podium today, and that was there to take.

“I’m at pains to make sure that we deliver with both cars at the same time, so bittersweet is the word.”

It was Colapinto’s second P2 finish in a row after his Barcelona efforts the week prior to Spielberg. Since the in-season Barcelona test in April, the Argentine has failed to score three times but has been in the top five in the other five races. That spell includes a maiden F2 win in the Imola Sprint Race as well as his two most recent podiums.

Cotterill says that it has largely been down to Colapinto’s acclimatisation to Formula 2 finally showing up in the results as he improves during what is his rookie season in the Championship.

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“Franco has definitely improved since Barcelona and is driving better. Dennis was obviously more experienced and was good at the start of the year, so you have to go through some learning stages.

“Frankly he's continuing to do that and is improving, and his input is valuable. I think what the Barcelona test gave Franco was a point of reset, a chance to absorb what was going on in the first three rounds and then start to implement.

“F2 races come thick and fast, and so your ability to be able to process everything in such a quick succession and in a new Championship with a new car, new personnel that he's working with – it’s about getting the whole team gelling together.

“Maybe we found some stuff in Barcelona but also, he's definitely driving better, and I thought he managed the tyres perfectly. He had no one to gauge it on and he was able to do it along with his engineer, to put it all together and strategise what to do what they needed to do to maximise it.

“All that comes with understanding and experience and Franco is on a very steep improvement trajectory and I think I think he's done a good job and he’s not finished yet.”

Hauger’s stall on the grid cost him the chance to move back into the top five in the Drivers’ Championship, while Colapinto moved level with Rodin Motorsport driver Zane Maloney in fifth position on 75 points.

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Cotterill added that it was a positive that the next race weekend at Silverstone follows right away, with it being a great opportunity for Colapinto to continue his momentum while Hauger can fight back right away.

“It’s probably what both of them need. For Dennis, to be able to go again so quickly and not dwell on what happened, he can take the positives out of the weekend. For Franco, he can continue his momentum, that’s what both need to do.

“As a team, we should have more points in the bag. So, now's the time, in the second half of the season, we have to go on a run now. I'm sure there's many other teams out there that are thinking exactly the same thing.”