Franco Colapinto targets quick adaptation in Imola F1 return: “I think I can reach a good level”. Franco Colapinto returns to F1 at Imola with Alpine.

Imola, Franco Colapinto’s return
There is a lot of anticipation for Franco Colapinto’s return to Formula 1, as he replaces Jack Doohan at the wheel of the Alpine. The Argentine, who showed flashes of talent towards the end of the 2024 championship, will get a second chance in F1 starting this weekend. Once again, Italy will welcome (or rather, re-welcome) him to the paddock: last year it was Monza, this time it’s Imola.

Ahead of the Santerno weekend, car #43 has played down expectations for his performance, stating that the priority will be getting used to the A525 and to the physical and mental demands of F1. It’s a process that will take time to perfect, but Franco Colapinto hopes to already be at a decent level at Imola.

Franco Colapinto’s words
“Obviously being sidelined at the end of 2024 wasn’t great, but it made me reflect and learn. I’m happy to be back. It’s never a nice feeling to replace another driver, but you can’t choose the moment when you enter Formula 1. I just have to do my best and try to contribute as much as I can to the team through my work,” he said during the press conference. “I’ve done some simulator work for the team in the past few days. I was also trackside, trying to help the team develop the car. That helped me get to know the car better. It’s a big change moving from one team to another, so that work was very helpful. After the announcement, we worked even harder on the simulator. It’s been quite a while since my last race weekend, so I might be a bit rusty, but I think I’ll have to get back up to speed quickly if I want to be competitive.”

“My goals for this weekend are to focus on myself. It’s hard to have expectations since I don’t have experience with this car yet and there’s a lot to learn. But we’ve already taken the first steps and I think I can reach a decent level by Sunday,” he added. “I want to start with the basics — I’m not expecting any results. The performance levels of each team are so close that they change from track to track. It depends on how strong each team is at a given circuit. We think we’ll get an idea of our level on Friday, but there’s still a lot of work to do together with the team. The first objective is to get off on the right foot, find the performance, and aim to score points consistently.”