Franco Colapinto started away in Australia
The Argentine placed 16th in the first free practice of the initial date of the 2026 F1 season, 3ss058 behind Charles Leclerc, the fastest. Pierre Gasly was 18th.
It was just a warm-up, although it was still surprising that the Mercedes-Benz engines did not dominate the first free practice of the Australian GP, the opening date of the 77th F1 season. In that strange beginning of the power units of the star brand the Alpines were involveda team that for the first time officially tours in the top category without using a Renault engine. Franco Colapinto was 16th and his teammate Pierre Gasly, 18th.
Although the truth about the level of each team will only be known in the classification this Saturday, it is true that the level of the Enstone team caught our attention, because from what was shown in the preseason tests they aimed to be closer to tenth place.. Colapinto made four crashes, three with medium tires and one with soft ones. Precisely with this last compound he achieved his best time: 1m23s35, which left him 3s058 behind Charles Leclerc, the fastest of the round.
Colapinto, the first Argentine to have a presence in three consecutive F1 seasons since Carlos Reutemann and the first to participate in a first event since Gastón Mazzacane in 2001, completed 42 laps in the test session, which was not interrupted by any red flag, although he did have two virtual safety car moments on the track due to the problems of Oscar Piastri and Alex Albon.
The two Alpine drivers seemed to have a hard time finding the moment to close a fast lap. Gasly had a worse time and was 710 thousandths slower than his teammate. The Frenchman completed three stints and achieved his best time on the soft tyre.
Colapinto suffered a mistake in the third corner. The Argentine arrived too fast, blocked the tires and ended up going through the gravel. Nothing major, just a jolt for your A526.
Back, it was just a training session and the first of the year in the midst of a giant technical renovation. However, it was striking that Oscar Piastri’s sixth place was the best a Mercedes power unit achieved.. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, the full Silver Arrows team drivers, were seventh and eighth, respectively. The Alpines were the worst users of Mercedes in the test, because Lando Norris, the champion, was 19th, but he missed more than half the session with a problem in his McLaren.
