Franco Colapinto admits he will need more than five F1 races to get fully up to speed
Alpine’s new F1 recruit ope🐻ns up in his first interview since being announ꧒ced as a replacement for Jack Doohan.

Franco Cola🥃pinto has admitted that his five-race contract doesn’t leave him with enough time to extract the full 🐻potential of Alpine's Formula 1 car.
After an impressive if error-prone nine-race stint with Williams at the end of the 2024 season, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Colapinto has secured an F1 comeback with Alpine from this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
However, the French outfit is only giving him five races to prove his worth, with the team silent on who will occupy the garage next to 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Pierre Gasly from the British GP in July.
Critics have questioned the decision to drop F1 rookie 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jack Doohan after just six races, while many also believe that Alpine is♈ putting too much pressure on h𓆉is replacement Colapinto.
Asked if the length of hi✨ꦏs contract could force him into more mistakes, the Argentine said: “I know [what has been said], we will see once I drive.
“But I have a great opportunity and I'm happy to be back in F1. I didn't even think I🐼 would have five races, I'm just in a happy place and I'm dealing with [it] very well. At the moment I just want to get back in the seat and drive.
“Of course, you heard Carlos [Sainz] saying that he needs like 10 races to get used to t🀅he [Willꦑiams] car, I think five is not enough for me. I drove for nine in all my life in F1.
“It probably takes me a few more races, probably a couple more than five to get up to speed and maximise everything ou🧸t of the car, but it is what I have. I just want to maximise it, enjoy it and try to do the b⛦est for the team.”
Alpine has made a tough start to the 2025 F1 season, with the A525 proving uncompetitive in bot🐭h qualifying and race trim.
The Renault brand is believed to have been unhappy with the perfo🤪rmance of Doohan, who failed to score a single point across the opening three races of ✨the season.
Gasly also has found it tough to break inside the top 10 this year, having scored points on just two occasion𒐪s so far. He finished an excellent seventh in the Bahrain Grand Prix and bagged an extra point in the sprint race in Miami⛦ after a number of drivers finishing ahead of him were penalised.
Asked if Alpine had given him any 💙set targets to ach𓆏ieve in order to secure a contract extension beyond the original five-race term, Colapinto was coy about the matter.
“As a driver, I'm just trying to do it step by step,” he said. “I dಞon't really know the car so a lot of new things are coming.
“I just want to do the basics right and then I'm not expecting any kind of results. The performance of teams is so, so tight that they are changing from track ཧto track depending upon which one is stronger☂ for each [track].
“FP1 and FP2 we will have a clear view of where we are at. [I’m] still working a lot with the team, the main goal for us is to make the car quicker, so we n꧃eed𒆙 to find a bit of performance. That's the main goal, to try to improve the performance a bit and then of course, after these five races we will see where we are.”
Colapinto moved up the junior ladder as a member of Williams’s F1 acadeꦐꦚmy and has been loaned out by the Grove-based team to Alpine.
He was added to Alpine’s reserve driver roster in Jan💧uary a🌼nd has since completed hundreds of laps as part of the squad’s TPC (testing of previous cars) programme.
But the 21-yea𒉰r-old feels he is ‘starting from zero’ a✅t Imola this weekend, as he jumps into Alpine’s 2025 F1 car for the first time.
“I'm really excited,” he said. “Everything is new again. We staꦯrt from zero. Of course, it wasn't the nicest to be after doing the last nine ꧙races of last year to step out [of a race seat].
“It wasn't what I wanted, but it was🐻 a good time to reflect on what happened last year and to learn from it. Happওy to be back.
“Of course, it’s never nice circumstances when it happens like this, when you step in another driver's seat, but you never really chose the moment youౠ get in Formula 1.
“I just tak⛄e it, try to do m🐽y best and try to maximise everything for the job.”