From crashing into the barriers in FP1 to making it to the final part of qualifying in only his second ever appearance – Franco Colapinto had a huge turnaround at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, leading a Williams double-pounder performance in Q3 at the Baku City Circuit.
A relatively low-speed slam into the wall during first practice for former Formula 2 driver Colapinto, who replaced Logan Sargent for the rest of the season last time out at Monza, left Williams mechanics struggling to get his car fixed in time for Friday’s second practice.
WATCH: Bizarre moment Albon leaves garage with fan still running in his car
But when qualifying day came, the Argentine looked confident, cementing his top-ten finish in FP3 with ninth on the grid in just his second race, while team-mate Alex Albon took 10th – after a freak incident in FP3 where Albon was out with the exhaust fan still in the airbox of his Williams FW46.
“I think it was a good transition, from FP1, with the little mistake I made,” said Colapinto. “I think I made a little mistake.” [up] The team was really happy, and I think I did well every lap. There was something in the car that hurt me a little bit in the last lap; I struggled with the rear tyres all lap and started sliding and hurting them quite early in the lap. So I had a hard time dealing with that.
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