Neither the laziness of the car he drives, nor the pressure to which he has been subjected, nor even the cunning of Flavio Briatore, executive advisor of the Alpine team, have managed to make the coolest driver in Formula 1 tremble. The French team, which no one really knows where it is or where it is going, announced this Friday the renewal of Franco Colapinto, the driver who became Argentina’s hope in the championship and who brings together several of the most desirable aspects currently sought after on the grid. He’s young (22 years old), friendly and easy-going, and has a nice, economical trailer behind him. He has speed, but he still needs to cover a little more distance to be able to assess how much.
After a brief spell at Williams, with whom he competed in nine races last season, replacing Logan Sargeant, and with an eighth place (Baku) as his best result; Alpine used Colapinto to ‘kill’ Jack Doohan, although this barely left him room to adapt to a car that didn’t even go backwards. “I’m not happy if you look at the results, and that’s the important thing. Franco works hard. And we and our engineers try very hard to try to please him. But the truth is that that’s not what I expected from him,” said Briatore at the end of August. At that time, the Buenos Aires driver had only won nine Grands Prix in the Alpine outfit, a structure that Renault sold and then repurchased, and which now wanders without direction or identity. The disconnect is of such magnitude that both cars will incorporate Mercedes engines and gearboxes next year. A maneuver that puts Alpine on the F1 exit ramp.
“I have followed Franco’s career in F1 closely and have always believed that he has the qualities and potential necessary to become an elite driver,” said Briatorie, who is not shy about diametrically changing his speech. “Our decision to continue together in 2026 is a clear example of our commitment and firm support to Franco in his development,” added the Frenchman. “Next year will be my first full year in F1 and that gives me a lot of peace of mind. The 2026 car is much more promising than the current one and incorporates many solutions with which we hope to solve the problems we had”, commented, in turn, the driver based in Mallorca.
The least of Alpine’s problems is its driver training. After finishing the last two years in sixth place in the table reserved for construction companies, in 2025 it fell into a precipice. As the calendar covered stages, his car fell behind, to the point of coming in last with four grands prix remaining. Paradoxically, Colapinto’s performance has followed the opposite trajectory to that of his car, with a slight recovery in recent times, even though he has not yet managed to score a single point. This improvement partly explains his choice, ahead of Paul Aron, a promising Estonian runner who has not yet been uncorked. Of the 16 special events that Colapinto competed under the same roof, Pierre Gasly, who will continue to be his workshop neighbor, lost the clash in 11 of them.
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