Colnaghi planning to adjust his ‘mentality’ after a mixed season opener in Melbourne

Mattia Colnaghi recently reflected on the special experience of racing in Melbourne, but with just one point from Round 1, he says both he and MP Motorsport have work to do going forward.

The Argentine driver showed good form on Friday, qualifying in sixth. But he was unable to take advantage of that strong starting position to score big points in the races.

Colnaghi spun in the Sprint while battling for sixth place with Maciej Gladysz, dropping him to the back of the field. However he finished 10th in the Feature to give him his first point in Formula 3.

Reflecting on the weekend, Colnaghi said: “There are lots of positives and some negatives to take from the weekend. But overall it was a really cool experience.

“My first weekend in F3 and to do it at Melbourne, in Australia, racing alongside F1, that was really nice. But we struggled in some aspects and we were quite strong in others. So that was a good takeaway from the weekend.”

The positive for Colnaghi was the Qualifying performance, with the margins incredibly tight, as the top 10 was covered by just 0.461s.

In addition to that, the 17-year-old was just 0.139s ahead of Louis Sharp in P13, showing just how close it was to get into the top 12. His result was even more impressive considering he stopped on track at the end of Free Practice.

“Yeah, it was quite a good result finishing the session in P6,” he said. “Obviously, it was a very, very tight session with the top 12 covered by four tenths.

“P13 was less than two tenths away from my lap time. So that's obviously a good reminder that there's no room for mistakes in F3.

READ MORE

• Maciej Gladysz: ‘Humble approach in Melbourne will be key for next rounds’
• Matteo De Palo aiming to bounce back from Melbourne opener and show true potential

“It was really nice recovery, going from that into qualifying. It was quite an eventful session. But then again, it's part of the process.

“Thankfully, the issue happened at the end of the session, so I didn't lose any running time. It was a very, very good job from the team to get the car out in quali, getting everything ready.”

Reflecting on the Sprint, Colnaghi says his mistake has caused him to reassess how he is planning to approach races in F3.

“Definitely the Sprint was quite a mistake from my side,” he continued. “So we'll learn from that and obviously I will make an adjustment in my mentality.

“I think it was a good experience to have, and obviously, just as a first race mistakes can happen, and unfortunately it was the case.

“It was my first race in F3, so I did approach it in quite an aggressive manner, whereas sometimes maybe patience can be the best way to approach a race.

READ MORE

• Benavides targeting more high points in 2026 after bursts of potential in F3
• Bruno Del Pino: ‘I feel confident that we can aim for the top’

“So there's definitely some aspect that I need to learn from to change. It's good to have the aggressiveness, but it’s still good to have a bit from both sides of the plate.”

The Feature Race was better for Colnaghi, although he fell through the field to finish in 10th. The MP driver shared were he felt they struggled.

“In the second race it was just overall quite difficult,” explained Colnaghi. “I was struggling a bit with pace, especially in the second half of the race. But same with the Sprint, it's the first weekend.

“So were taking things piece by piece, taking the positives, taking the negatives. We struggled overall just with the tyres. Start of the race was quite strong and the end of the race was quite difficult. Definitely a lot to learn from my side. It is quite new to me with the Pirellis.

“That’s definitely something we need to work on in the next couple of months. So it's going to be a process of improving my tyre management and implementing the strategies that we can use to save the tyres during the session.

“It's also very good to take the positives from the weekend, such as the quali. It's good to keep in mind that we had the potential during the weekend and that's not just going to disappear. So that will be a good confidence boost going into the next round.”

Overall, Colnaghi is taking a positive view of the weekend, getting his Formula 3 career up and running. While it was just a point, the rookie says it could prove valuable come the end of the season.

“Obviously P10 is not exactly what I aim for,” he concluded. “But it is a point at the end of the day and every point is valuable as F3 has taught us time and time again.”