Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s debut for Mercedes in the first practice session ahead of the Italian Grand Prix grabbed the headlines, but the young driver was not the only participant making his Formula 1 debut. Over at Williams Franco Colapinto, who was tabbed by Team Principal James Vowles to replace Logan Sargeant, was making his debut on the grid.
After putting in two solid sessions, Colapinto noted he was “proud” of the first day’s work.
“I’m very proud to have completed my first Friday as a Formula 1 driver,” said Colapinto in the team’s post-practice report. “There are things to work on with the team but overall, it was a good first day.
Colapinto noted that he was building his comfort level throughout the two sessions, trying to find the “sweet spot” with the tires. at a resurfaced Monza.
“Instead of going for lap times, I focused on myself by building up everything throughout the sessions. I was careful in FP1 as I wanted to put the laps in. On the long runs, I’m still trying to understand how to keep the tire alive for longer and find that sweet spot,” continued Colapinto. “I felt a lot more comfortable in FP2 as I was trying to find the limit and was more consistent which was a good step for my confidence. I’m super grateful to everyone in the team for helping me get up to speed this weekend.”
Williams Sporting Director Sven Smeets noted how both Colapinto and Alexander Albon were “comfortable” from the early going in Monza.
“As expected, the track was quite dirty in the beginning of FP1 and the grip was low. As all curbs are new as well, FP1 was all about learning and understanding how the tires are behaving on this new surface,” said Smeets. “Both drivers felt comfortable with the car from the start. Alex’s pace on the Medium tyre was encouraging and Franco used both sessions to build up his confidence and pace. We’ve seen that there is a lot of graining in the long runs across the field so it will be key to find a balance between Qualifying and race performance.”
Colapinto posted the 17th-fastest time in both sessions, while Albon was up in P8 during Friday’s first practice session. Albon dipped down to P13 in Friday’s FP2.
“Today felt mostly strong except for our Soft tire run in FP2, but other than that, everything else was pretty good. We’re in a decent place but it’s close out there and we definitely have some work to do,” said Albon. “I think tomorrow will be a trade between Qualifying and race pace; there’s a lot of graining going on right now and it’s hurting the tires a lot.
“In terms of getting the one lap performance and also the long run performance is a bit of a challenge, so let’s see what sweet spot we can find.”
