Colapinto pinpoints twin areas to improve after first F1 Friday

Franco Colapinto has pinpointed high speed corners and tyre management as areas to improve following his first F1 Friday at the Italian Grand Prix.

Colapinto was drafted in by Williams to replace Logan Sargeant ahead of the Monza race, becoming the first Argentine to race in F1 since 2001, having made his FP1 debut at the British Grand Prix earlier this season.

In FP1, he placed 17th with a minor off at Parabolica, before finishing just over a tenth behind team-mate Alex Albon in FP2, also in 17th on an encouraging day.

Reflecting on his first outing as a full F1 driver, Colapinto highlighted two areas he felt needed work heading into Saturday.

"I was trying to make the car a bit more suitable to how I want to drive it, but I felt a lot more comfortable with the car in FP2 and I was trying to find the limit and I was nailing it a bit more and a little bit more consistent with the confidence in the high-speed," Colapinto explained.

"I'm still missing a bit in the high-speed corners to try and find the limit of the tyre as it is very sensitive to the temperature and the tyre is suffering a bit but I need to understand better. 

"Sometimes, I over-push a little bit or I don't carry enough speed or I don't release the brake enough, the tyre has a sweet spot that is very difficult to understand and if you go over that, we know it is a very fine window. 

"We made a good step in FP2 which helped my confidence and I felt a lot better.

"I am happy and I did enjoy it and have things to work on like starts but we were not too far off Alex."

Colapinto's physical

With temperatures hot on Friday and expected to remain so through the weekend, the first Argentine since Gaston Mazzacane in 2001 felt he gave himself a solid foundation with which to build.

"Physically it was okay with the heat, Monza is an easy track from the physical aspect, the neck was good and I was getting used to drinking in the car," he said.

"It was great and luckily I could enjoy today rather than going for lap times, I just tried to focus on myself. 

"It went quite well, and I was quite careful in FP1 to put the laps in and start to understand the tyre a little bit better but I'm still trying to understand how to keep the tyre alive for longer.

"Overall, it was a good day, so for the first Friday as an F1 driver, I'm very proud and extremely happy."