Alpine driver Franco Colapinto has explained why he has struggled during the 2025 Formula 1 campaign after impressing as a Williams substitute last season.
The 22-year-old is yet to score a point since replacing Jack Doohan ahead of Imola seven rounds ago, while Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly has claimed 13 points during that time.
It comes after Colapinto joined F1 for the final nine rounds last year standing in as a Logan Sargeant replacement at Williams, before Carlos Sainz joined from Ferrari for 2025.
Colapinto impressed for Williams scoring twice in his opening four grands prix, but he has failed to replicate that form at Alpine saying “I’m lacking confidence with the car”.
“I’m not finding, sometimes, my feet in some corners,” he added, ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
“I’m struggling to be able to turn in and to come into the corners and that’s just not really giving me much confidence. I didn’t have this issue last year, I could go straight in and be quick straight away.
“Now I’m struggling a bit more with that and that’s the reality. I don’t have the confidence as I had maybe last year and that’s a bit costly in F1.”
Franco Colapinto, Alpine
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Colapinto pinpointed “maximising the weekend as a whole” as the area he needs to improve upon and the Argentine is confident of doing so even if the results do not currently show.
“We’ve been working hard with the team to understand some of the issues and I do believe that we’ve been getting better at some things,” said Colapinto, who started the year as an Alpine reserve.
“It’s just that feeling that nothing has been connected or put back together and that package that we have, it’s been maximised at times, but not in some other times.
“I feel there is progress that is being done behind the scenes, it’s just that when you don’t see it in results it’s very tricky to keep pushing, to keep working in the same direction because you don’t actually see the results happening.
“It’s something that you can’t really rely on when you don’t see it on track. But I do believe that we’ve been getting better in many areas and that we are still working very well with the team. It’s going to come, but it’s just taking longer than what I would like.”
F1 will enter its annual summer shutdown after Sunday’s Hungarian GP with the championship not returning again until Zandvoort on 29-31 August.
Franco Colapinto, Alpine
Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images
Many drivers use this as an opportunity to relax and take a holiday, but the poor form and only joining the grid from round seven means Colapinto will continue working throughout August.
“My season has been a bit shorter so far,” he said. “So I need to keep working and when you are not really comfortable with the performance, I think you just need to keep pushing and keep going.
“Of course you need time to reset, but you need to use the free time to try to keep learning and understanding what you need to get better at.
“So, we will of course keep pushing forward and try to come back from the summer break stronger than what we left.”
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