Formula 1: Colapinto Continues to Progress, Will Start 14th in Austria | Norris Achieves Fastest Time and Secures Pole Position

Franco Colapinto had a good Saturday in Formula 1, making it into the second qualifying round with the best time of his weekend, starting 14th in the Austrian Grand Prix this Sunday, which will begin at 10 AM in our country (broadcast on Fox Sports and Disney+). The fastest of the day was Lando Norris, who dominated all qualifying sessions with his McLaren and secured the pole position for the 11th race of the calendar.

Colapinto advances to Q2

The Argentine, as he has been proving, takes free practice very seriously to better understand the functioning of the Alpine and gather data to apply on the track when the competition starts. This Saturday was no exception: with times placing him 16th, 20th, and 19th during free practice, Colapinto improved his time in the first qualifying session and posted a record of 1m05s278 that allowed him to qualify and advance to the second round, which includes the 15 best times. It wasn’t without suspense: Carlos Sainz (Williams) was one of the last to finish his lap in that first session—after Colapinto had completed his laps—but it wasn’t enough for the Spaniard to surpass the Alpine driver’s time, finishing knocked out by 304 thousandths.

In the second session, Colapinto could not improve his time (though he was close, just 10 thousandths away) and his time placed him 14th when the session ended. The good news for the Argentine is that he made it into Q2 again, as he also did two weeks ago in Canada (12th) and during his return to the Grand Circus in Emilia-Romagna (15th); thus, compared to Jack Doohan (the one he replaced at Alpine), he has reached Q2 the same number of times as the Australian but with one less race. However, the driver sporting number 43 lamented not making it into the final session: “It’s a shame because when I see that I’m a tenth off the Top 10, it frustrates me a bit, but we have to keep working. The small mistake in turn three, which cost us a tenth and a half, probably took away the opportunity to move on to the next session. I think it was a somewhat complicated weekend that we managed to resolve. Now, it’s time to focus on the race.”

The Argentine hope at the Red Bull Ring

When asked about race pace, the driver from Pilar expressed feeling “a little better and closer” this Saturday. “We have to continue progressing and working, but I think we are finding our way. The car felt better, especially at low speed,” he added in his brief dialogue with the press after the activity. The reality is that both his words and his progress since his elevation to a starting role with Alpine excite his fans with hopes for a good race this Sunday. It is worth noting that in the last race, during the Canadian Grand Prix, the Argentine driver had a very good start that wasn’t favored by the team’s race strategy or the pace of the A525 in Montreal. The expectations placed on the second Alpine driver are heightened by his past performances at the Spielberg circuit, the track with the fewest corners on this year’s calendar, with only 10. Although he will make his first entry into Formula 1 this Sunday, Colapinto has experience at the Red Bull Ring from his years in junior categories: there, he won one of two races in the Formula Regional European Championship in the 2021 season (in both he achieved pole position and set the fastest lap) and also earned podiums in the European Le Mans Series, in Formula 3 (3rd in the sprint), and in Formula 2 (2nd in the race).

“Clearly, the car was good enough for Q3, but we still need to have two cars where they should be. Franco made it through Q1, but he was too far from Q3, which is something we need to improve if we want to be more competitive with both cars,” analyzed Alpine’s boss, Flavio Briatore, after evaluating the Argentine’s and Frenchman Pierre Gasly’s work, who qualified tenth. “We’ll see what tomorrow (Sunday) holds for us. It will be hot, and strategy and tire management will be important, and given our current position, it is increasingly vital for us to score points,” he added.

Lando flew, Max starts far

Apart from Colapinto, Saturday’s action in Styria saw Lando Norris shine, who took the prime position for Sunday with a time of 1m03s971; the British driver established a lead of over half a second over the second-place Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), the widest margin in qualifying thus far this season. Australian Oscar Piastri, his teammate in the British team and current championship leader, finished third; thus, the positions of the orange cars on the starting grid create good expectations for the battle for the top of the tournament.

The surprise of the day came from Gabriel Bortoleto and Max Verstappen: while the Brazilian rookie set an impressive time to advance to his first Q3 starting in eighth, the current four-time world champion faced a yellow flag that forced him to slow down during his last fast lap, placing seventh, one of his worst qualifying positions at the Red Bull Ring (in 2016, when he finished farthest, he was 9th). Amid confirmations, surprises, and hopes, it all points to a thrilling race this Sunday in Formula 1 among drivers fighting for the top of the championship, those looking to score their first points of the year, and those willing to pull off a surprise.