Franco Colapinto Battles Midfield at Silverstone

Franco Colapinto finished 12th in the Silverstone Sprint on Saturday. He advanced from 14th to 12th during the race.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto battled in the midfield but failed to break into the points-paying positions.

Gasly described the day as a “reality check” for Alpine as it tries to keep pace with rivals Racing Bulls and Audi.

Colapinto appeared encouraged by Alpine’s long-run speed but acknowledged the team’s difficulties over a single lap.

The Argentine said changing wind conditions contributed to a costly mistake in qualifying when he unexpectedly lost the rear of the car through Becketts.

Interim team principal Steve Nielsen echoed his drivers’ concerns, pointing to a familiar pattern that has affected Alpine throughout the season: stronger race pace than qualifying speed.

Gasly qualified 12th with a lap of 1 minute, 30.063 seconds but will drop three places on the starting grid because of an impeding penalty.

Colapinto qualified 19th after losing control of his car at the high-speed Becketts complex during the session.

The team gathered valuable information from the Sprint that could help Sunday’s Grand Prix strategy.

Nielsen pointed out that the team needs to make bigger strides in qualifying and find ways to extract the maximum over a single lap.

Colapinto’s performance was affected by the changing wind conditions at Silverstone.

The team will look to improve its qualifying speed to fight for points in the Grand Prix.

Gasly briefly climbed as high as eighth on the opening lap of the Sprint before being overtaken by faster cars.

Colapinto and Gasly will look to bounce back in the Grand Prix after a disappointing Saturday.