Franco Colapinto: “A F1 in Zandvoort is crazy”

The Argentine pilot arrives at the GP of the Netherlands, 15th date of the season, with the question about his future, with the incentive that known clues arrive and wanting to perform well in his Alpine to channel the year.

Franco Colapinto has good memories of Zandvoort. The last time he ran there, he visited the podium. It was in 2022, with Formula 3, when it ended third in the long race of the eighth date of that season. Three years later, the Argentine returns as a F1 Alpine pilot for the 15th date of the 2025 season, although this year there was already a tour of the Netherlands layout when there was a TPC test (of cars with two years old) when turning with an Alpine of 2023. “It is an old school circuit, very nice and super fun. To drive here and go to the limit with an F1 is one of the best. An F1 is Zandvoort is crazy, ”said Buenos Aires in talk with AM850 before starting the activity after the holiday stop the World Cup had. The dozen skills that remain to complete the agenda of the 76th season of the category will be key to your future.

The collapint bond with Alpine is career at Carrera. The information has been giving for a while, and he published it, and ratified, the official formula 1 site in its networks before the Netherlands GP. The Dutch race will mark the first anniversary of the Argentine as a pilot of the highest category, which occurred in that good debut he had with Williams in 2024, when he hit the jump to the FW46 armchair to replace Logan Sargeant, ejected from Grove Team after his accident in Zandvoort. The rest is known history: the nine great awards with the team founded by Frank Williams, the points added, the strong accidents, the pass to the French team as a reserve and the leap to ownership in replacement of Jack Doohan from the sixth date of 2025. Later the holiday stop and with ten competitions to close the current exercise, the 2026 appears as a very close and nebulous horizon.

The continuity of Colapinto beyond 2025 is not confirmed. In fact, his career evaluation does not assure him at the end of the year, with Paul Aron, betting on the cats. His results were far from those who expected in Alpine, beyond that the A525 showed being the worst car of the grid and that the team showed unheardish weaknesses for a F1 Team, from poor preparation of cars to reach the grid to capitalized complications in boxes. In that context, everything was very complicated for Colapinto. However, Pierre Gasly, his partner, managed to gather 20 points. Instead, the Argentine is the only pilot of the current grill he did not score.

With this panorama, the names of Czech Pérez and Valtteri Bottas appeared as possible replacements of the Argentine. The threat of the two super experienced pilots disappeared this week when Cadillac announced them as their titular pair for the landing of the US brand in the F1 of 2026. On the day of the press, before the start of the GP of the Netherlands, a French journalist asked Colapinto how long he hoped to keep his Alpine armchair, already with Pérez and Bottas crossed out on the list, and if the ten races that remain this year are an exam to continue in the next season.

Franco, in the best football style of Potrero Argentino, chose a luxurious gambeta to dodge the theme: “I am focusing on myself and doing my best. Of course there is a lot of work to do with the team and we are working hard to get the maximum performance to the car, that is our goal. It is great to have Czech and Valtteri back in F1 too, so I wish you the best and I hope we can have some good last ten races. Our goal is to get the most out of the car.”

That Pérez and Bottas are out of play is encouraging for collapint, but beyond the situation of possible rivals, the fundamental thing will be their performance. It is very true that he showed a good pace in some moments and managed to be faster than Gasly, but they were sparkles. Franco, more than anyone and more adm in turn that surrounds him, knows that he needs more. Of the ten tracks that remain on the 2025 agenda, in nine he already ran with Formula 1, only Zandvoort is not on the list, but earlier this year he did a test with an Alpine of 2023. The panorama, in that sense, is encouraging for the Argentine. Of their performance and results, after all they are the ones who send, their future will begin to delineate.