Franco Colapinto breaks down in tears after 'wasted' opportunity

A crestfallen Franco Colapinto could not conceal his emotions after an error at the restart of the Italian Grand Prix saw him tumble down the order from third on the road.

The Alpine driver, who started seventh at Monza, cleverly capitalised on the Charles Leclerc-induced red flag to get himself into fourth, dumping his remaining battery and passing Oscar Piastri before the race was stopped.

At the resumption, the Argentine driver briefly overtook Max Verstappen for third, behind team-mate Pierre Gasly, but made a costly mistake at the first Lesmo corner.

Running fourth at the time, Colapinto ran wide onto the gravel, falling to P15 as any chance of the Alpines working together fell by the wayside.

Speaking on TV after the 53-lap contest, the 23-year-old was distraught and could not hold back his tears, having thrown away a crucial chance.

"It could have been... a great race and a... major mistake," the Alpine driver told ESPN and DAZN cameras in Spanish after the race.

"So... I wasted a very important opportunity for the team and for myself."

Nonetheless, Colapinto put together an impressive recovery drive, getting his A526 back up to ninth by the chequered flag, just two places behind Gasly in seventh, but he seemingly could not escape the feeling it could have been so much more.

He added: "So, a bit sad, but... I need to learn from this and keep pushing."

Check out the interview below.

You must accept cookies to view this content

You have not currently accepted all necessary cookies. You can change your cookie preferences here .
Do you keep seeing this message?
Disable any installed browser extensions or try another web browser.
Or click here to load the embed manually. Please note that cookies may be placed.

Get the latest F1 news from RacingNews365 directly in your Google feed! Click on the link below and you’ll see your favourite F1 website appearing even more often. That way, you’ll never miss any news, analyses, interviews, or exclusives.

Follow RacingNews365 on Google