Neither the laziness of the car he drives, nor the pressure to which he was subjected, not even the astracanadas 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 knows well where it is or where it is going, announced this Friday the renewal of Franco Colapinto, the driver who has become Argentina’s hope in the championship and who brings together many of the most desirable aspects currently sought on the grid. He’s young (22), friendly and easy-going, and has a good, economical trailer behind him. He has speed, but he still needs to travel a little more distance to be able to gauge how much.
After a brief experience at Williams, with which he contested 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 fit in a car that didn’t even go backwards. “I’m not happy if I look at the results, and this is the important thing. Franco works hard. And we and our technicians worked hard to try to please him. But the truth is that it wasn’t what I expected from him,” Briatore said at the end of August. At the time, the Buenos Aires native had won just nine Grands Prix in the Alpine suit, an outfit that Renault sold and then bought back, 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 places Alpine on the exit ramp of F1.
“I have followed Franco’s career in F1 closely, and I have always believed that he has the qualities and potential necessary to become an elite driver,” said Briatorie now, who has no shame in changing his speech diametrically. “Our decision to continue together in 2026 is a clear example of our commitment and firm support for Franco in his development,” the Frenchman added. “Next year will be my first full year in F1 and this 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 have had,” commented, for his part, the Mallorca-based driver.
The least of Alpine’s problems is pilot training. After finishing the last two years in sixth place in the manufacturers’ standings, in 2025 it fell off a cliff. As the calendar covered the stages, his car fell behind, to the point of being last with four Grands Prix remaining. Paradoxically, Colapinto’s performance followed an opposite trajectory to that of his car, with a slight rebound in recent times, despite still not having managed to score a single point. This improvement partly explains his choice, ahead of Paul Aron, a promising Estonian rider who has yet to be uncorked. Of the 16 special events that Colapinto has contested under the same roof, Pierre Gasly, who will continue to be his factory neighbor, lost the match in 11 of them.
