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🇦🇹 Relive Colapinto’s performance at the 2025 Austrian GP

Battling in the heat of the Styrian Alps

Published

30 Jun 2025

Est. reading time

3 min

🏁 Franco and his race in Austria

Austrian Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring 📆 Date: 29 June 2025 📍 Location: Spielberg, Austria 🌤️ Weather: Sunny and warm 👥 Attendance: 300,000 across all three days

📊 Qualifying: P14 📈 Final result: P15

🏆 Race results

🥇 P1: NOR (McLaren) 🥈 P2: PIA (McLaren) 🥉 P3: LEC (Ferrari) P15: COL (Alpine) P13: GAS (Alpine) ❌ DNF: SAI (DNS), ANT, VER, ALB

📝 Race summary

The Austrian GP began with drama, as SAI’s car failed to start and triggered an aborted start procedure. After a 15-minute delay, Franco stayed focused and got away cleanly.

He gained several positions in the opening corners, jumping to P11 by lap 2 while avoiding the incident between ANT and VER at Turn 3 that brought out the Safety Car. After the restart, he briefly dropped to P12 behind BEA but fought back quickly.

Franco started on new soft tyres and was the last of the five soft tyre starters to pit, showing excellent management before switching to mediums on lap 13. He climbed to P13 and remained competitive during his second stint. On lap 31, he was spun around by TSU at Turn 4, for which the Red Bull driver received a 10-second penalty. Franco rejoined without visible damage, though he later said: “the car felt different following the contact.”

A second incident came on lap 57: while battling TSU and attempting an overtake, Franco didn’t see PIA – who was lapping the pair – and inadvertently forced him off track. The stewards gave him a five-second penalty for forcing another driver off the circuit.

Despite these setbacks, Franco kept pushing and closed in on STR during the final stint. He ultimately crossed the line in P15, ahead of TSU, after many laps of intense midfield racing.

🛠️ Weekend details

Free practice sessions:

- FP1: P16, 34 laps – Best: 1:06.246. - FP2: P20, 34 laps – Best: 1:06.176. - FP3: P19, 26 26 laps – Best: 1:05.546.

Qualifying:

- Q1: 1:05.278. - Q2: 1:05.288. ➡️ Final Result: P14.

🏁 Race

🚦 Race start:

Clean start from P14, up to P11 by lap 2.

⬆️ Gains:

Rose to P10 at peak; after pit stops and incidents, fluctuated between P13–P17.

🛞 Tyres:

Softs (13 laps) → Mediums (26 laps) → Hards (final 30 laps).

⚡ Fastest lap:

1:09.621 (Lap 44, on hards).

🏁 Finish:

P15, ahead of TSU.

🌟 Highlight data

📊 Sectors and speed:

- Sector 1: 17.317s / 320 km/h. - Sector 2: 30.956s / 229 km/h. - Sector 3: 21.008s. - Main straight: 279 km/h. - Speed trap: 307 km/h.

📻 Team radio

Tyre management was key for the soft stint. The team said they were "very happy" with Franco’s control and overall execution.

🗣️ Franco Colapinto’s statements

“We had a good start but as the race went on, we struggled with the car and the balance, which did not really work for us as a team… We do not know why, so we need to sit down together as a team and carefully review it” said Franco by the end of the race.

He’s full on preparation for next week’s race, and he mentioned that they “will go back to the factory at Enstone and work hard with the aim of coming back stronger at the team's home race next weekend.”