Franco Colapinto has detailed his relief at being able to answer a big Williams "question mark" heading into the Italian Grand Prix.
Drafted in for the dropped Logan Sargeant, Colapinto had never driven more than eight successive laps in an F1 car and as such, had doubts about his ability to maintain sufficient pace at Monza.
However, he finished a respectable 12th, just 13.006s off a points position and ahead of the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and both Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly as team-mate Alex Albon banked two points for ninth.
Given the short notice and lack of preparation time, the first Argentine to race in F1 in 23 years was satisfied at being able to deliver over the course of a race.
"I am very happy with the result, but happy because the pace was a question mark," Colapinto told media including RacingNews365.
"I have never done more than eight laps in a row before this, and suddenly there are 53 - and I had never tried a hard compound [tyre] either.
"So there were a lot of new things, but it was a very positive weekend overall. It was obviously a little bit frustrating with the mistake [on Saturday], but I paid it back to the team with a really strong race.
"I now have a lot of information to take to the factory, on the simulator and understand better on what I need to work on as your first race is always tough with many unknown things, but we managed it well, and only finishing a couple of seconds outside of the points was decent."
Viewed by others:
Repaying Williams
Reflecting on the short notice of his call-up, Colapinto expressed his gratitude at being able to repay Williams and boss James Vowles.
"It's a whole process that has been very short for me so far, but it's supposed to be long, but my first race went very quickly," he said.
"James and the team had the trust to put me in the seat, it was a very difficult decision they made.
"But I am extremely happy with the performance and looking forward to getting more comfortable in the car."
Most read
In this article
Join the conversation!