Franco Colapinto’s quiet resurgence – The Alpine F1 team are the rubbing rags of the F1 championship this season. They currently languish at the bottom of the constructors’ table with just 20 points collected all season. The team chose to switch its drivers after just six race weekends in 2025, with the unfortunate Jack Doohan being ditched in favour of rising star Franco Colapinto who had impressed whilst performing a stand in role for Williams at the back end of last year.
The Argentinian driver made his mark by scoring points in two of his first four starts, with an eighth place finish in Baku and a tenth at the Circuit of the America’s. Such was the impression he made, Red Bull were reported to be considering him as an alternative to their lack lustre Sergio Perez.
Alpine debut hardly scintillating for Colapinto
Yet a number of high profile smashes which cost Williams dear meant interest from teams wained despite the huge financial backing he brings from his South American sponsors. Alpine made the decision to sign Colapinto over the last winter break despite having Jack Doohan already under contract.
Franco’s first six races were similar in terms of results to Doohan’s though his race finishing position was marginally better (14.4 v 14.7) whilst Doohan was slightly better in qualifying (16.1 v 15.3). Despite failing to live up to his billing, Alpine have stuck with Colapinto and he will presumably remain with the team until the end of the season.
Alpine switched off their in season development programme around the time of the British Grand Prix in mid-July. Since then Pierre Gasly has scored just a single point at Spa in Belgium and bar Zandvoort and Monza, neither driver has finished a race on Sunday higher than seventeenth place.
As with most teams languishing at the bottom of the pile, the media attention tends to wain as the focus is on those delivering more impressive results. Yet behind the scenes Franco Colapinto has been quietly staking his claim to remain with the team into 2026.
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“It’s between Franco and Paul [Aron],” the de facto Alpine team principal Flavio Briatore told The Race in Azerbaijan. “Paul is a very nice guy, a very quick driver as well. And I need to understand what is the best for the team, you know?”
Aron took art in practice one in Monza last month and although he was two seconds off the pace and bottom of the timesheets. However, he was just half a second slower than Pierre Gasly and despite a spin at the end of his run on the medium tyres, the team reported they were positive about his contribution.
On his first run he’d been just two tenths slower than his team mate, a tenth quicker on his second and slower again on his third. Yet this strong start was said to have impressed the engineers at the French owned F1 team, which he why he is in contention alongside Colapinto to partner Gasly for 2026.
Since Gasly’s and the team’s last point at the Belgium Grand Prix, Franco Collapinto has been going along nicely in the background. The Argentinian has finished ahead of his team mate in four of the last six Sunday races and has out qualified Gasly also in four of the last six sessions.
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Colapinto defies team orders
In a car that is back of the pack, Franco is making a firm claim to remain with the team in Formula One, although in Austin he defied a team order to the displeasure of his superiors.
In Austin, Colapinto demonstrated the racer within himself as he defied team orders to hold station behind his team mate. Running in lowly positions 16th and 17th with Gabriel Bortoletto closing in along with race leader Max Verstappen, Franco was told over team radio to “hold positions.”
“Wait what?! Hold positions?! But he’s slow,” Colapinto exclaimed in disbelief. A lap later he made a determined move on his team mate into turn 1. In somewhat of a strategic blunder, Alpine had pitted Pierre Gasly for soft tyres early and with rubber now 27 laps old he was battling with faded grip.
The team later claimed the call was due to a concern over fuel quantities remaining, although an early safety car meant this explanation was highly unlikely. After the race the Argentinian defended his decision. “At the end, I had slightly fresher tyres than Pierre and saw Gabriel [Bortoleto] attacking. I wanted to keep him behind both of us,” said Colapinto.
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Alpine boss unhappy with defiance
As it transpired both he and Gasly were lapped by Verstappen and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoletto cruised past the stricken Gasly too leaving him P19 with Franco ending up P17. Yet Alpine’s recently appointed MD, Steve Nielsen, was clearly unhappy with Colapinto’s act of wilfulness.
“On Pierre’s side, we covered an undercut threat to box onto softs, a little earlier than we wanted, and then had a slow pitstop, which we will review and rectify,” he explained. “Franco was able to extend his medium run to have a tyre delta towards the end of the race where he caught up to Pierre.
“We gave the instruction for the drivers to maintain position as we were managing fuel with both cars and the added variable of the number of laps remaining with the leaders in close proximity.
“As a team, any instruction made by the pit wall is final and today we are disappointed that this didn’t happen, so it’s something we will review and deal with internally,” concluded Neilson. Yet such is the disarray the Alpine team is in at present, its unlikely there will be any meaningful sanction given Colapinto was proven right as his team mate was unable to defend from rival Bortoletto.
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The sign of a champion?
For a rookie denying a team order either demonstrates stupidity or an utter confidence in one’s own ability and decision making. As was the case with the likes of Senna, Schumacher and Vettel, all of whom have demonstrated this trait in the past, and all were proven multiple title winners dominating their respective era’s.
Given Alpine were a country mile from scoring points the decision to order its drivers to hold station appears pointless and clearly some kind of internal politics was at play following the instruction. Meanwhile to secure his future in F1, Franco must continue to out qualify and finish ahead of his team mate, given Gasly is considered a solid competitor in the sport and has never wanted for a seat.
In the modern era teams are prone to micro manage their drivers as McLaren’s ridiculous “papaya rules” have demonstrated. Having punished Lando Norris for a minor indiscretion towards his team mate in Singapore, Zak Brown and Andrea Stella have backed themselves into a corner and must deliver a similar decision in Oscar Piastri’s direction given he took out three cars I Sprint at turn one, two being himself and his team mate.
Bearman set for race ban. – Oliver Bearman escapes one race ban for now – Haas F1 driver Oliver Bearman is walking a tightrope given he is sitting on ten F1 driver penalty points with twelve being an automatic race ban. Ironically Bearman was the last driver to benefit from another being banned as he stood in for Kevin Magnussen for Haas last season at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
Yet unlike Magnussen who is known for his aggressive driving style, Oliver’s travels which have been punished by the stewards are defined by a lack of experience. His first points which will expire after the Mexican Grand Prix were issued in Saudi Arabia Paulo for a collision with Franco Colapinto in the second practice session (2pts).
The came Monaco this year and the British driver overtook Carlos Sainz under a red flag and was slammed by race control (2pts.) Again in Silverstone it was another red flag incident which attracted the attention of the stewards as Bearman did a racing pit entry in wet conditions and under the red flag. The result? He crashed heavily (4pts)…. READ MORE
AUSTIN, TEXAS – OCTOBER 16: Oliver Bearman of Great Britain and Haas F1 looks on during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of United States at Circuit of The Americas on October 16, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Simon Galloway/LAT Images)
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13 and a career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media. Having trained in investigative journalism and contributed to several European sports outlets, Hunt brings rigour and polish to every article. His role is to sharpen analysis, check facts and ensure TJ13’s daily output meets the highest editorial standards.
