Alpine’s Franco Colapinto says good pace means little with an uncompetitive car. Franco Colapinto says he’s performing well but can’t show his real pace.

Franco Colapinto has closed the gap to Pierre Gasly’s pace in recent races but remains the only current driver on the grid with zero points

Colapinto fights for renewal
Franco Colapinto’s 2025 season has been filled with challenges, mainly due to driving a car he couldn’t get to know during testing – as he replaced Jack Doohan mid-season – and had to learn directly on track. Faced with high pressure and perhaps premature expectations, the Argentine driver struggled during the European part of the calendar, but on circuits he already experienced in 2024, he has been much closer to his teammate Pierre Gasly, finishing ahead of him in four of the last seven Grands Prix.

Franco Colapinto has, in fact, found the key to get back on track and convince Alpine to consider giving him a seat for 2026, while only a few months ago he seemed to be out of the picture. In Formula 1, everything can change very quickly, and now car number 43 is hoping for a turning point from the team as well, in the hope of finally having a car that allows him to turn his progress into points.

Franco Colapinto’s words
“I think the situation the team is in is complicated. Of course, we knew that 2025 was going to be a transitional year, but it turned out to be more difficult than expected,” he said.

“Personally, I’ve had good pace and I’ve been quite fast, but it’s also true that sometimes we can’t show our real speed,” he added. “In the end, we are just a bit too far behind – those two or three tenths that we’re missing to compete with the others hurt us and make everything more complicated.”