Colapinto sent to Alpine simulator in the middle of the night after Baku crash

It was a turbulent weekend for Colapinto, who, during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, knocked both Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris out of contention in Baku after looking up into Turn 1 during the first Safety Car restart.

External advisor Flavio Briatore was so angry about the incident that he said Alpine would 'take action'. GPblog later understood that the French team would keep the consequences internal.

Undoubtedly, this was not what Briatore was referring to, but Colapinto was assigned a night shift after the race in Azerbaijan. The Argentine flew from Baku to the United Kingdom to spend time in the simulator at Enstone and prepare for his first race weekend at the Sepang circuit.

Normally, that would take place during the day, but this time Alpine deliberately gave Colapinto a different schedule. Colapinto reported to the factory with his engineers at 5:00am. This allowed the driver to get a head start on adjusting to the Malaysian time zone.

The upcoming weekend will also demand a lot physically from the drivers. Sepang is known for its high temperatures and humidity, while rain can also play an important role.

"It will be my first experience in Sepang. It's a circuit I have heard and seen a lot about, growing up watching Formula One. One thing that stands out are the conditions with it being so hot and humid and there always seems to be a high chance of seeing some rain," Colapinto said.

For Colapinto, next weekend’s race is a chance at redemption, though the added difficulty is that he has never driven at Sepang. The Argentine will therefore have to use the practice sessions to learn the track while simultaneously finding a good setup.

"I'm looking forward to experiencing Malaysia and the job at hand is to aim for a productive Friday, have the car in a good set-up window and hopefully be in a position to compete for the top ten on both days again," he concluded.