Colapinto expected to remain at Alpine F1 for now

Franco Colapinto is expected to stay at the Alpine Formula 1 squad beyond his initial five-race stint.

This weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix is the fifth race of Colapinto’s run replacing Jack Doohan, who was demoted after May’s Miami weekend following a bruising introduction to F1.

In Alpine’s initial driver announcement Colapinto, who was signed from Williams over the off-season, was handed the seat alongside Pierre Gasly for five races ahead of further evaluation, although de facto team leader Flavio Briatore has since contradicted that timeframe.

While Colapinto has struggled thus far to reproduce his impressive form in his 2024 Williams cameo, the Argentinian is still expected to remain in the seat at next weekend’s British Grand Prix in Silverstone and stay put indefinitely pending his race-by-race performances.

Colapinto’s stint is part of Briatore’s evaluation plan to make a decision on Gasly’s team-mate into the all-important 2026 rule change, and in a tight midfield battle there have been signs of progress from the former F2 frontrunner with a stronger qualifying performance in Montreal, where he advanced to Q2.

“Canada was definitely a good step, we’ve been working hard with the team to try and understand which direction is making me more comfortable with the setup,” Colapinto said on Thursday in Austria.

“Generally, I’ve been feeling better, more comfortable and more connected with the car and that’s what we are looking for. At the end of the day we are just trying to focus race-by-race and go step-by-step, then we’ll see what happens.”

While his Alpine career has not brought a huge improvement compared to Doohan so far, there also seems little appetite to start over once again, bedding in another fresh face while the Enstone squad’s main stumbling block is its car package’s overall performance.

In that respect Colapinto’s situation is not so different from other drivers on the bottom half of F1 grid who are judged race-by-race, although the Argentine does boast sizeable commercial backing from his home country which might earn him the benefit of the doubt, if necessary.

Silverstone is significant for Colapinto because it was the site of his first outing last year, impressing Williams in a tricky, rainy FP1 session.

“It was a very important weekend and to be able to have that comparison now on the same track I’ve been driving the Williams last year, it’s good,” he said.

“It always becomes easier as well when you already drove a Formula 1 car at that track. It’s a great track, full of high speed and I love driving there.”