Alpine, a sacrificed year and hopes for the future
Franco Colapinto experienced a very challenging first season in Formula 1. After the season began, following six races, he was called up to replace Jack Doohan at Alpine, and from that point, he struggled to achieve any significant results.
The Argentine driver ended his debut season with zero points, finishing twentieth in the standings, behind Gabriel Bortoleto and his teammate Pierre Gasly.
The French team brought a weak car to the grid, further hampered by a lack of updates. The team focused its efforts entirely on the 2026 season, allowing the 2025 campaign to pass without delivering noteworthy results.
Nielsen reflects on the “harsh reality” of 2025
For this reason, Colapinto’s performance does not fully reflect his potential, and the team places its hopes on the upcoming season. After the final Grand Prix of the year in Abu Dhabi, team sporting director Steve Nielsen commented: “Franco is a young driver. We have seen other young drivers go through positive and negative periods: he is on that path.”
“There were races at the start of the year where he was on par with Pierre, and in some occasions he may even have been faster than him. He is on that path, and we will give him all the support needed to be as fast as possible, whether that means overtaking Pierre or getting closer to him,” Nielsen explained.
“It is important for us to have two drivers scoring points in the championship. This year we struggled a bit: only one car scored points, and not enough, while the other car didn’t score at all with either driver. We need stability from the second car and time for that talent to mature and deliver points. We need two drivers,” he continued.
“I think the harsh reality is that our car simply wasn’t fast enough to score points,” he finally admitted.
“I believe both of our drivers are better than the car. In the few occasions where the car was competitive enough to fight for points—like in Brazil, where Pierre had a decent qualifying and race, and in Las Vegas, where we were okay—both drivers proved they are capable. We need a much better car, and then we will see if the drivers can keep up,” Nielsen concluded.
Looking forward to Alpine 2026
That said, Alpine is expected to be competitive in 2026. After sacrificing a season to focus on the new regulations, the team will need to deliver a car capable of scoring more than 22 points by the end of the campaign, demonstrating clear progress over the challenging 2025 season.
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