Interview
Colapinto pleased to finish fourth in Feature Race on ‘very special’ Silverstone weekend
Franco Colapinto was pleased to end a special few days at Silverstone with a run to fourth in the Feature Race, although he was slighted disappointed not finish on the podium.
The MP Motorsport driver’s weekend started with a run out with the Williams Formula 1 team in the opening practice session of the British Grand Prix.
He then returned to Formula 2 to qualify fourth just behind his teammate Dennis Hauger before running the alternative tyre strategy of starting on the Hard tyres before ending on the Softs in Sunday’s Feature Race.
FEATURE RACE: Hadjar wins to take Championship lead at Silverstone
The Argentine pitted from the lead towards the end of the race and looked to make a similar charge through the field to the one in Spielberg for a podium but finished fourth instead.
He was happy with the pace of his team but rued the early Safety Cars that did not allow him to use his tyre advantage over his rivals.
“It's always tricky when you start very close to your teammate because the strategy needs to be sometimes changed and adjusted,” he explained.
“Unfortunately, with both cars so close on track, it's very difficult to do a double stack in F2 and if there is a Safety Car you cannot really do a stack, so the only option we have is with the alternate strategy.
“Unfortunately, there were so many Safety Cars at the beginning of the race, so they didn't get the degradation on the Softs, and they didn’t go through those last three, four laps where I lost eight seconds in total, so that I think was a big time loss.
“Then my mirror, I didn't have any since the start, they went up and broke down so I couldn't really see anything behind, and I lost some positions trying to not crash.
“I was trying to defend but I didn't know where the others were, so it was very tricky and I also lost a bit of time there but at the end to be honest the pace on the Prime was the best of the field, we were looking very strong.
READ MORE: Round 8 Post Feature Race Press Conference
“Even after the pit stops were done, we were still one of the strongest on track and the pace of the car felt really good today, fortunately couldn't get the podium but we were a bit unlucky with the Safety Car at the beginning or we could have been up there.”
Colapinto was the lead Hard tyre runner for the entirety of the race and looked to be in contention for the race win when the effective race leaders, Isack Hadjar, Victor Martins, Jak Crawford, and Zane Maloney battled for position.
He admitted that he did not know about the tussle behind as he was concentrating on his pace, which he says was strong given that he scored the fastest lap.
This result also continues Colapinto’s good run of form that has left him fifth in the Championship on 92 points – 43 behind Championship leader Isack Hadjar – however he says that is not his focus at the moment.
“I think it's very early days, and there are many races left,” said Colapinto. “We still need to make some steps to keep improving and keep getting better and I think in other areas the consistency is great, so let’s keep seeing what we can do.”
Finally, Colapinto reflected on the entirety of the weekend, recalling his first run out with Williams during a Practice session and why that has pushed him to continue to work hard.
“It's always very special, the first FP1,” said Colapinto. “The opportunity I got from Williams has been on another planet. I am working hard to try and get that chance again in a bit of time, so let's see if we can do another FP soon.
“I'm going to work hard to try and make it to F1 and I'm going to keep working hard in F2 and see if we can get that later.”