Colapinto starting to ‘feel a bit more comfortable’ in Alpine car as he assesses first Friday back in action

Franco Colapinto was left satisfied with his first day back in action as an F1 driver, with the Argentinian pleased that he was starting to “feel a bit more comfortable” in the Alpine by the end of Friday’s running at Imola.

Having competed in nine race weekends as a substitute for Williams in 2024, Colapinto signed to the Enstone-based team as a reserve driver for 2025 – before getting his opportunity to race again when it was announced after the Miami Grand Prix that he would replace Jack Doohan for the next five rounds on the calendar.

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While it was a relatively low-key day for the returning driver in terms of the timesheets – having ended FP1 in 17th place before moving up to 13th in the second practice hour – Colapinto was content with his progression across the sessions as he starts to adapt to the A525.

After reflecting on how he was starting to feel in a “happier place” by the end of the day, the 21-year-old continued: “Still a lot to work [to do] with the car set-up and with the tools as well with the settings, but I’m starting to feel a bit more comfortable in the car.

“Still a lot of things to learn and to get used to it but, yeah, building up slowly, and I think by the end I was starting to be a bit more competitive.

“So, yeah, looking good. I think the car is looking quite strong, especially with Pierre [Gasly], so I’m sure we can do a good weekend both tomorrow.”

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The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari track proved busy throughout both practice sessions, with plenty of incidences of traffic as cars tried to find clear air on the circuit.

As such, Colapinto is expecting the opening segment of Saturday’s Qualifying session to pose some challenges and stressed the importance of putting in a good lap straight out of the blocks.

“For sure, Q1 is going to be tricky with the traffic,” the Alpine driver explained. “We are going to need to be on it at the start – it’s only two runs, two laps, and you’ve got to set both in case in the second one something happens.

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“So, yeah, it’s just important to try to be on everything. We need to check today all the data late [into the] night, and I’m sure we’ll come with good answers and a bit stronger tomorrow with all the learning from today.”