Colapinto says his five-race F1 deal with Alpine may not be enough to rid the rust

IMOLA, Italy (AP) — Franco Colapinto says replacing another Formula 1 driver during the season is “never nice circumstances” and he doesn’t believe his five-race deal with Alpine is long enough.

After Australian rookie Jack Doohan was dropped amid wider upheaval at Alpine, Colapinto was promoted from a reserve role last week to partner Pierre Gasly starting this week at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

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.

“Everything is new again, we start from zero,” Colapinto said Thursday. “Of course, it wasn’t 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.

“Happy to be back, and of course never nice circumstances when it happens like this, when you step in another driver’s seat, but you never really choose the moment you do it in Formula 1.”

The 21-year-old Colapinto is back in Italy where he made his F1 debut 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 — even if he is “a bit rusty, maybe” — and delighted to be back, with strong backing from South American fans.

“Monza 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’s still my dream come true so the feelings are the same.”

Alpine has promised Colapinto only five races followed by “a new evaluation” 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.

“After you’ve 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,” Colapinto said. “So 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.”

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