What Colapinto learned from Gasly's Monza pole to make his Madrid breakthrough

Franco Colapinto says studying Pierre Gasly's qualifying performance at Monza helped him make progress at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he finished seventh after reaching Q3.

Colapinto had been left searching for answers after qualifying eighth at Monza while his Alpine team-mate Gasly produced a surprise pole position.

The result was particularly notable given how closely matched the pair had been earlier in the weekend. In Q1, when Gasly topped the session, Colapinto was fourth and just 0.050 seconds behind.

The gap then increased as qualifying progressed. Gasly was three tenths faster in Q2 and four tenths ahead in Q3.

"Pierre was very quick throughout qualifying. In Q1 I was very close, and I think as the sessions went on, he kept improving more than I did. I have a lot to work on on my side to understand that and learn from how much he was improving with every attempt while I was falling a little bit behind," Colapinto said at the time.

Franco Colapinto, Alpine

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Colapinto subsequently studied the data from Monza to understand where Gasly had been able to find additional performance as qualifying progressed.

A week later in Madrid, Colapinto was consistently faster than his team-mate through qualifying and reached Q3 despite having to abandon his first Q2 attempt after being caught out through the fast La Monumental corner.

"[Madrid] qualifying was one of the best qualifying sessions I've done, with very, very perfect laps and putting the car into Q3. It was always going to be tricky with the Audis and the RBs going very fast here," Colapinto told media including Motorsport.com after finishing seventh on Sunday.

"Today we stayed ahead in the race and scored a lot of points. So I'm very happy. Once again, it's extremely positive and I'm very happy with the pace and the results."

Colapinto believes the work he did following Monza contributed to his performance in Madrid.

"I ticked everything and I'm very pleased with that. I think after Monza I learned a lot from Pierre's qualifying and I tried to take a step here. I did it and I maximised everything again," he said.

Franco Colapinto, Alpine, Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

Asked by Motorsport.com specifically what he had learned from Gasly at Monza, Colapinto pointed not only to driving but also to how the more experienced Alpine driver managed the car's energy through the different stages of qualifying.

"I think a bit of everything," he said. "He is more experienced and the steps he was making in everything, both in driving and energy management, from one run to another, from Q1 to Q2 to Q3, were very clear. I learned from that."

Colapinto felt that was reflected in his own progression through qualifying in Madrid.

"I think here I was really on it in qualifying, at a very difficult track. It's probably the most difficult one of the year to nail a lap and also the most satisfying one when you do it. Both Q2 and Q3 were amazing laps.

"Again, I took a step there and that's what I was looking for. So I'm happy with that."