Franco Colapinto and his future, in F1?
The continuity of the Argentine in the Alpine team is assured for the return of the holidays, but its performance will be evaluated race to career. And in 2026?
“I don’t know,” was Franco Colapinto’s response in Hungary’s last GP when he was consulted if he looked as a head of Alpine in the return of the Formula 1 holiday break. The Argentine comment was genuine, nothing can be assumed in the category, except in a context in which the expectations that had been deposited in it did not respond with performance. There is something safe: the Buenos Aires will be in the GP of the Netherlands that will mark the return of the World Cup after the break, but its evaluation will continue a career. In the Escudería de Estone they decided to give him all the chances and the time so he can show his conditions, a diametrically opposite policy that they put into play with Jack Doohan. Colapinto knows that to get to the GP of Abu Dhabi that will close the season he must bring to light part of all the good he achieved in those already distant first five competitions with Williams in 2024.
In that context, Adventure at 2026 would be practically a thombola. In F1 they send the results and also money. If a pilot arrives with a good financial back, a foothold can be made in the category. Then, to stay, you must support results. The World Cup’s official site revealed how the pilot doubles are for the next season and in the case of Alpine Pierre Gasly is confirmed. Is it strange? No, it is logical and real. The Frenchman is the only one who pulled the Team car in the year, giving him the 20 points he accumulated in 14 major awards.
Do not collide, be fast and add points were the precepts that Flavio Briatore marked Colapinto as a goal when he sat as a head of Alpine from the Emilia-Romagna GP. The Argentine failed in all three. He stuck in Icola, it cost him greatly to squeeze the A525he lost recurrently with his fellow Gasly and is the only pilot of the current grill who did not score in 2025. And to that we must add the accident he suffered with this year’s car in the Pirelli test in Hungary.
It is also true that The Buenos Aires faced a car that has a squalid yield window, the team this last one in builders and the Renault engine is the one that pushes the least. As if that were not enough, the combo is completed with clear problems in the preparation of cars and deficient work in boxes. Thus, it is complicated.
In the midst of this panorama, The Racing News 365 Dutch site published that the Colapinto environment explores options for 2026 and points to Indycar and Wec. If this rumor was true, would it be bad? Absolutely not. The Argentine does not even have the place as a starter for next year and the work of its people is to get possibilitiesalthough their most staunch fans try defenses who in some cases scratch the absurd. It is F1 and in F1 nobody has assured their place. These days, even Lewis Hamilton (not much presentation is needed) is in dance for its complicated year with Ferrari and the voices rise around them …
To increase more doubts and pressure on Colapint (It could be announced in Monza). The American team will be added next year to complete a grid of 11 teams. What does Czech have to do with the Argentine? The Mexican agreement would leave Valtteri Bottas freewhose name also sounded strong for the structure that belongs to General Motors. Cadillac’s idea is to have a pair that mixes experience (Czech) with youth. The names that sound to accompany the former Red Bull are Jak Crawford (runs in F2 and is American), Felipe Drugovich (the already historical reserve of Aston Martin) and Alex Dunne (the Irish who shines in F2 and belongs to the McLaren program).
Bottas is the current Mercedes reserve and was probing by Flavio Briatore, talks that Toto Wolff himself (director of the arrows) acknowledged having had with the Italian. “We talked several times about Valtteri, ”said the Austrian in Great Britain. With Cadillac’s door near closing, the Alpine alternative could be the only one (and last) for Bottas.
Colapint will be in Zandvoort just around the holidays. As in these cases, the future will be in your hands. If you manage to strip those doubts that the A525 generates and begins to have convincing actions, your future will straighten. Canada and Hungary were the highest points of the Argentine, because on both occasions he beat Gasly, advanced to Q2 and showed a good career rhythm. These convincing performances do not mean adding points as Briatore marked, because Alpine’s shortcomings often prevent fighting for the first ten places, but squeezing each chinter that your car gives it will be essential. Rumors will continue and it is not a plot of the European press: if the Argentine performance improves and holds, the noise will go out alone.
