Franco Colapinto has been told by Flavio Briatore that he and the team around him need to “improve”, after failing to get through to Q3 at Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix.
As team-mate Pierre Gasly delivered a strong Saturday performance at the Red Bull Ring to get into Q3 and end up 10th on the grid following a late spin, Colapinto fell short after a costly lock-up at Turn 3 in Q2.
His best effort of 1m05.288s, which left him 14th quickest, ended up being slightly slower than the time that got him through Q1 – and was 0.442 seconds adrift of Gasly.
From de facto team boss Briatore’s perspective, that outcome was not up to standards as he felt Alpine had potential to get both cars into Q3.
“Clearly the car was good enough for Q3, but we are still lacking having two cars up where they should be,” said Briatore.
“Franco was through Q1 but too far away to reach Q3, which we need to improve if we are to put ourselves in a more competitive position with both cars.”
Briatore’s remarks are a clear message for Colapinto to lift his game, which is interesting because he remains on a race-by-race deal for now.
The Argentinean revealed on Thursday in Austria that he had been assured he was in the car for the next race at the British Grand Prix, but he has not yet done enough to convince Briatore that he should stay in the seat for the remainder of the campaign.
Colapinto, who replaced Jack Doohan after May's Miami Grand Prix, crashed heavily in Q1 at his first race at Imola, despite having a set a time that would have got him through to the next qualifying segment. He then failed to make it out of Q1 in both Monaco and Spain.
Last time out in Canada, Colapinto enjoyed a step forward in form that helped him get into Q2 for the first time – and he eventually started that race 10th after grid penalties for Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda dropped them back.
Colapinto has yet to score any points for Alpine though, with the team currently in last place in the constructors’ championship.
Explaining his failure to get through to Q3 in Austria, Colapinto said he'd been caught out by difficult conditions – which included gusts of wind – which contributed to his crucial Turn 3 lock-up.
“The wind just made it really unpredictable and quite tricky to drive,” he said. “I’m still finding my feet through some corners and trying to understand in which direction I need the balance to go.
“When you see the margins it's very close and I think without that mistake in Turn 3 it was possible [to progress to Q3]. I lost a tenth and a half and it was kind of what I needed.
“I still need probably a little bit more, but it's that confidence in the high-speed I'm slightly lacking.”
