Franco Colapinto closed a difficult United States GP
Alpine was not competitive all weekend with its weak A525, did not feel comfortable and finished 17th, two places ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly.
“It is impossible to score points today, we aim everything for next year,” said Flavio Briatore before starting the United States GP, the 19th round of the 76th Formula 1 season.. The Alpine boss had taken charge during the Netherlands weekend of his decision to throw away the 2025 World Championship to aim all guns at 2026, a year that will come with changes in the technical regulations that will change the cars and engines. Of course, Zandvoort assured that it was a mistake, because they expected the 2025 car to be more competitive and that rivals would not update their models during this last ground effect tournament. This extreme weakness of the A525 added a new chapter in Austin, where Franco Colapinto was very far away and was 17th.
The Argentine driver had shown a good improvement in performance since the Hungarian GP, always within the context of the Alpine. But at the Circuit of the Americas, a place where he finished in the points in 2024 with Williams, his good feelings were lost in Austin, with the potholes and an A525 that was too stiff for the characteristics of the track. The Argentine driver spent the first two days of activity, including the sprint, trying to find a setup for his car that was fast and comfortable, a combination that seemed impossible to achieve.
In the main race, Franco lost two places in the starting (with Gabriel Bortoleto and Esteban Ocon). With the Frenchman, who started with hard tires, he managed to recover a handful of turns later with his medium tires. From that moment on, Colapinto dedicated his career to defending himself against the attack of every rival behind him. He was surpassed by Lance Stroll, Alex Albon and Kimi Antonelli. And every car that passed him left quickly.
Only at the end of the competition did Colapinto find the best moment of performance of his car, already empty of fuel and with soft tires. He managed to withstand the attacks of Gabriel Bortoleto (his soft tires had six laps less use) and went to the attack of his teammate Pierre Gasly, who suffered from the wear of his front tires and his pace fell apart. Finally, Franco surpassed the Frenchman to finish in 17th place.
The end of the race was almost a balm in a very complicated weekend, while waiting for the announcement that Alpine will make in November about Gasly’s partner for 2026. All roads point to Franco’s continuity and the statement could be given in Brazil or a few days before the start of the São Paulo GP. That is the only thing that remains to be clarified in the 2025 season for the Argentine, because it is clear that competitively Alpine will continue to suffer in the remaining five races. In five days the activity will begin in Mexico and the goal of the Buenos Aires native will be, without hesitation, to recover the good feelings he had before arriving in Texas.
