海角社区官网

Colapinto, who drove nine races with Williams last year, has a commitment from Alpine that he’ll get only the next five races to show what he can do. He said that might not be enough time to shake off the rust.

鈥淓verything is new again, we start from zero,” Colapinto said on Thursday. “Of course, it wasn鈥檛 the nicest, after doing the last nine races of last year, to kind of step out. It was not what I wanted, but it was a good time to kind of reflect on what happened last year and to learn from it.

鈥淗appy to be back, and of course never nice circumstances when it happens like this, when you step in another driver鈥檚 seat, but you never really choose the moment you do it in Formula 1.鈥�

Colapinto is back in Italy where he made his last year when Williams dropped struggling American driver Logan Sargeant before the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

This time, the Argentine says he feels more relaxed 鈥� even if he is 鈥渁 bit rusty, maybe鈥� 鈥� and delighted to be back, with strong backing from South American fans.

鈥淢onza was like a massive excitement and everything was new, and it was the first time I was going to be a part of a Formula 1 week,” he said. “So here it feels a bit different. It鈥檚 still my dream come true so the feelings are the same.鈥�

Alpine has promised Colapinto only five races followed by 鈥渁 new evaluation鈥� in July, so he needs to make the sort of quick impact he did with Williams last year, scoring points in his second race.

Still, he said, that might not be enough for Alpine to see him at his best. Colapinto flagged up comments this year by the experienced Spanish driver Carlos Sainz, Jr. that he might need as many as 10 races to get used to his new car after switching from Ferrari to Williams.

鈥淎fter you鈥檝e heard Carlos saying that he needs 10 races to get used to a car, I think five is not enough for me (after) I drove nine in all my life in F1,鈥� Colapinto said. 鈥淪o it probably takes me a few more races, probably a couple more than five, to get up to speed and maximize everything out of the car. But it is what I have and I just want to maximize it, enjoy it and try to do the best for the team.”

___

AP auto racing: