Franco Colapinto issues health update after 50G crash concussion reports

Franco Colapinto has downplayed talk of a concussion after his heavy 50G crash in qualifying in Las Vegas, saying he’s feeling “okay” now and that’s what is important.

Colapinto suffered an enormous crash late in Q2 in Sin City as he clipped the barriers on the inside of Turn 14 and hit the wall on the other side with a force of 50G.

Franco Colapinto was cleared to race in Las Vegas after his 50G hit

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The Williams rookie reported that he was okay, but because of the ferocity of the impact, he was sent to the medical centre for a check-up. He had to undergo a second evaluation on the Saturday before being cleared by the FIA’s medical team to race.

He told the Buenos Aires Herald: “I felt a bit slow afterwards, I didn’t know what was going on.

“I’m glad they allowed me to race. They said it was a concussion and sent me to the hotel for the day.”

He was asked about his health when he sat down with the media including PlanetF1.com in the build-up to the Qatar Grand Prix.

Asked if he felt 100 per cent, he replied: “Yeah.”

Pressed on reports that he’d suffered a concussion, he didn’t go into details and simply said: “I’m okay, that’s important.”

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Colapinto burst onto the scene at the Italian Grand Prix, called up by Williams to replace the ousted Logan Sargeant. But while he went on to score points in two of his first five races, narrowly missing out on more points in the other three, he’s crashed in his last two.

The 21-year-old was into the barrier in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, one of five drivers getting it wrong in the pouring rain, only to again crash in the Grand Prix when he lost control of his FW46 behind the Safety Car.

A third crash in Las Vegas led us to asking the Williams rookie about dealing with the nature of the pressure that’s ramped up with his success.

“Honestly I don’t feel that too much,” he said. “In motorsport always you have some ups and downs. And you know, the last two races, they have been a bit down.

“I had five great races, and I had a very tough Brazil, and then Vegas was going great. I think I was doing a very good job, and I was getting on the rhythm until that little mistake in qualifying. And the race was again very good pace and it was great again.

“But unfortunately, those small moments that happened, and just very small details that don’t go your way comes with a big cost.”

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