Franco Colapinto arrives in Brazil, his career almost at home

While waiting for an announcement that seems increasingly closer, the Argentine driver will compete this weekend in the San Pablo GP, the 21st round of F1 with his Alpine.

A little over a year ago, Alpine performed an unexpected Tom Hanks-style miracle in the San Pablo GP by achieving the final 2-3, in a race marked by rain, behind an overwhelming Max Verstappen. That double podium was the blessing that the Enstone team received to leave the bottom of the Constructors’ table and, finally, finish the season in sixth place with 65 points, of which 35 came from Brazilian soil. The almanac went 12 complete laps and once again Interlagos welcomes Formula 1 and the French are in a similar panorama from the numbers, but even worse in performance. Thinking about a 2-3 like in 2024 would already surpass the fiction of the Oscar winner, without a doubt. This is how Franco Colapinto arrives with his A525 to his almost local race, because Brazil is the closest event to Argentina.

The man from Buenos Aires knows as well as all the members of Alpine that dreaming of a weekend like 2024 is impossible. The 2025 car is the worst on the grid, it has gone seven races without scoring and has just finished 37 seconds behind the closest in Mexico. It is not illogical, as has been written on AM850.com several times, Flavio Briatore, the team’s boss, bet all the chips on the 2026 car that will arrive with new technical regulations and to Mercedes engines, of which the Renault brand will be a customer. In these gray days in terms of results, Enstone only needs to know who will accompany Pierre Gasly in 2026, a decision that has already been made and only the announcement remains.

While waiting for that official communication, Colapinto arrives in Brazil for the rematch in 2024. His time at Interlagos with Williams last year was bad. Hit by the recent death of his grandfather, the Argentine crashed twice over the weekend, once in the rescheduled qualy (it went from Saturday to Sunday due to rain) and he repeated the impact in the race. Everything came together in his almost local career and this year he is going for revenge in terms of his feelings. Sports, complicated, as explained.

“It’s always great to return to South America. Having experienced this event for the first time last year, I’m really looking forward to getting back on the track in front of all the fans, especially with so many Argentinians supporting me. I had mixed feelings about last year’s race in Brazil, but the Interlagos circuit is special to drive as it has a lot of history and a unique aura. Last year, with Alpine, we saw that anything can happen in this race, so we will try to be prepared and take advantage of any opportunity that comes our way, especially because it is a sprint weekend, with even more potential for action,” Colapinto said in the preview in statements published by the French team.

“It hasn’t been an easy season for us, but we keep our heads up and are focused on doing the best job possible this weekend,” Franco concluded. The important fact to take into account: rain, almost a permanent fixture in Brazil, is announced for Friday and, especially, for Saturday.. In that context, Alpine pulled a rabbit out of the hat a year ago. This time it should be David Copperfield.