Crash prevented, can't drink!

Franco Colapinto finished his first training Friday as a real Formula 1 driver with two 17th places. Apart from a moment of shock in the Parabolica, he flew under the radar. And so he actually achieved his goal. Especially in view of the, as expected, still quite long list of open tasks after the first day.

In any case, Colapinto is certain that he is fit enough for his neck to withstand the high centrifugal forces of Formula 1. “Physically, Monza is a fairly easy track,” he says. The heat will be more difficult, with temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius this weekend: “I'm just trying to get used to drinking in the car, which I can't do at the moment! Let's see how it goes on Sunday, whether I have to drink!”

Colapinto got his first taste of F1 at full throttle in the second practice session with his first qualifying simulations on soft tires. With only 0.192 seconds behind teammate Alex Albon, he did well in the final reckoning.

Colapinto struggles with Formula 1 tires: Very sensitive

“The second training session was good, I felt better and better in the car and tried to push the limits a little bit and to go into the fast corners a little more consistently and with a little more confidence,” said Colapinto. After the first few hours, he is still reaching his limits here: “I still need to find the limit of the tires a little better.”

The F1 Pirellis are notorious for their small working window for good reason. “They are very sensitive to temperature, and when you arrive in the last sector, the tyre can suffer a little,” confirmed Colapinto. He had clearly illustrated this in the first practice session when he realised that he had exceeded the grip limit when turning into the Parabolica. With the tyres stationary, he slid into the gravel bed, but was able to avoid an accident like Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

“Sometimes I over-push a little bit, sometimes I don't take enough speed, sometimes I don't go off the brakes enough,” describes Colapinto. “The working window of the tires is very difficult to understand whether you are under or over. But that's just a question of laps and races. FP2 went well, I was happy with the car, it was a good step for confidence. I felt a lot better then.

Williams goals in Monza: What's possible for Colapinto & Albon?

Even with full tanks, the tires are still an obstacle. Even more so here in Monza, where managing surface graining after a new asphalt surface is a challenge for everyone. This is even more true for a rookie. But overall, Colapinto is satisfied: “A good first day, with a bit of work on the car to adapt it more to the art and manner that suits my driving style.”

For Colapinto, the goal remains to get used to the car. Alex Albon has one eye on points, but still has work to do after Friday. He felt good in race trim and was right in the middle of the chasing pack in the long run average, but the Williams still seems to be having problems on the soft tyres in qualifying trim.

“There is a lot of graining at the moment, which can really take its toll on the tyres,” says Albon. “Getting the car to perform over a lap and in the long run is a bit of a balance. We'll see. We normally rely on a racing car because it's easy to overtake here.”