Franco Colapinto has been through a tricky period since joining Alpine mid-season, with the Argentine yet to score points in 2025. Sill, his position at Enstone is not under immediate threat.
Alpine are conscious of the abrupt nature of Colapinto’s arrival this year, which is partly responsible for the fluctuations in his performances.
Unless there is a massive surprise, the Argentine will complete the remainder of the season.
Of course, when evaluating their 2026 line-up, there is less certainty about the decisions Alpine will take.
Colapinto still has time to establish himself
When Franco Colapinto made his debut last year, there were many doubts about his abilities.
Although he was replacing a clearly struggling Logan Sargeant, his chances of doing any better were questioned.
His rookie season in Formula 2 (whilst enough to put him ahead of Antonelli and Bearman in the standings) was widely seen as insufficient to justify an abrupt mid-season swap.
Of course, this general narrative was overly dismissive of Colapinto’s abilities.
As James Vowles explained on numerous occasions last season, Colapinto spent his entire junior career with limited resources. Because of financial constraints, he often competed with less testing time than his rivals.
With this context, the Argentine’s junior career is more impressive than headline results might suggest.
In just his second race weekend, Colapinto flipped the script by scoring points for Williams.
This result on race day was accompanied by a very competitive qualifying, where he was regularly within touching distance of Alex Albon.
Unfortunately for Colapinto, success in Formula 1 is a double-edged sword. After initially being overlooked, the 22-year-old soon received immense media coverage and praise.
Whilst seemingly positive on the surface, expectations rose exponentially. The fact Red Bull were considering him as a Perez replacement shows how rapidly Colapinto’s market value rose.
It was no surprise when Alpine announced Colapinto as Doohan’s replacement after Miami.
The Argentine signed a multi-year agreement with the team in January, suggesting a full-time seat was incoming.
Unfortunately for Colapinto, his strong arrival at Williams last summer has not been replicated at Alpine.
Due to a combination of factors, from the A525’s poor performance to limited track time and operational errors, results haven’t fallen his way in 2025.
However, despite reports of a race-by-race contract, Colapinto should finish the year at Alpine.
The Enstone team want to continue evaluating his performances before deciding whether to keep him for 2026.
Why focusing on Alpine’s drivers would be a mistake
On the surface, Colapinto has not achieved the results Alpine would have hoped for. He has also accumulated a few crashes already, which are never going to be well-received by Flavio Briatore.
Still, a closer examination shows that the 22-year-old is performing at a respectable level.
He’s already outqualified Gasly twice this year, which is reasonable given his lack of pre-season.
Colapinto is arguably closer to his teammate on race day, although Alpine’s pace means this will not necessarily materialise with points.
Still, there is no reason to suggest another driver would achieve significantly better results if they joined mid-season.
The A525 is the slowest car on the grid, and has been for some time. With no further updates scheduled, another driver swap would essentially be a waste of time.
Instead, the next few months will serve as an extended evaluation period for Colapinto.
As the Enstone team prioritise 2026 development, their driver line-up is unlikely to be centre focus.
Only when the chequered flag falls at the season finale in Abu Dhabi will Colapinto’s future be under more heavy scrutiny.
Main photo: Steven Tee/LAT Images (via Alpine media gallery)
