Franco Colapinto admitted some mixed feelings as he makes his return to Formula 1 after replacing a rival mid-season again.
The Alpine driver will make his 10th grand prix start this weekend having taken the seat previously occupied by Jack Doohan. He made his F1 debut last year when Williams promoted him in place of Logan Sargeant.
“I’m really excited,” said Colapinto. “Everything is new again, we start from zero.
“Of course, it wasn’t the nicest [situation]. After being in the last nine races of the last year, having to step out was not what I wanted. But it was a good time to reflect on what happened last year and to learn from it. So I’m happy to be back.
“It’s never nice circumstances when it happens like this, when you step into another driver’s seat. But you never really choose the moment you get in Formula 1. I just take it, try to do my best and try to maximise the team for the job.”
Colapinto joined the team as a reserve driver earlier this season and has already had the opportunity to test some of their older cars at other circuits.
“There has been a lot of work in the background,” he said. “Apart from the last couple of days, also before.
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“I’ve been doing a lot of sim work for the team, of course [not] track-side, but still helping the team to try to develop the car a little bit during race weekends. It has been good, it helped me a bit as well to kind of learn the car, the tools, the different settings that the team is running that I was not very used to. It’s quite a big switch from one team to another, so it has been helpful.”
Alpine announced his return to F1 one week ago yesterday. “Of course the prep since it got announced was very strong and we’ve been doing a lot of days in the sim,” he said.
“So I’m happy. Again it’s a pretty long time since I’ve been in a race weekend so I’m a bit rusty, maybe, but I think it’s going to come off very quickly.”
He expects a tougher physical test on his return this weekend than when he made his debut with Williams eight months ago.
“Imola is a tough track, physically. It’s not like my start in Monza, that is the easiest one of the year.
“But it’s great to be back. It’s great that it happens in Italy as well. I have really good memories here and in Monza too.”
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