Franco Colapinto crashed his Alpine during the Pirelli test in Hungary today as pressure grows on the Argentinian driver following a strong of disappointing results. He is the only current Formula One driver yet to score a point in 2025 and his head too head with team mate Pierre Gasly is also sadly lacking.
The Alpine driver has the worst statistics amongst his rookie peers. Both he and his predecessor Jack Doohan have failed to make it into Q3, whilst the others have all competed multiple times in F1’s top ten shootout on Saturday afternoon’s.
His big news move from Williams to Alpine was heralded by the de facto team boss, Flavio Briatore: “We are very pleased to come to an agreement with Williams Racing to sign Franco Colapinto. Clearly, Franco is among the best young talents in motorsport right now. It is fair to say his appearance on the Formula One grid last year caught many, me included, by surprise, and his performances have been very impressive for a rookie driver,” said the head of the Alpine F1 team.
Colapinto chequered experience
Franco scored points in two of his first four races for Williams, as he replaced the hapless Logan Sargent for the final nine rounds of the year. Yet three DNF’s in the final four outings of the year, along with a number of high profile crashes, saw interest from the likes of Red Bull quickly fade away.
Colapinto was handed the Alpine drive following the sic race deal Alpine had made with Jack Doohan. Yet with seven Grand Prix starts now under his belt for the French owned team, Franco fares badly when compared to his Australian rival.
He has failed to make it out of Q1 on five occasions now, Doohan in his short tenure only missed out three times. In terms of average qualifying position, Doohan is ahead with 15.5 while Franco is almost a whole place further back with 16.38. the gap in average Grand Prix finishing positions is similar with the Aussie on 14.75 while Franco is 15.57.
When Colapinto replaced Doohan, Briatore gave him three targets to focus on. “He needs to be fast, not crash, and score points,” said the flamboyant Italian ahead of his first race for Alpine in Imola. Unfortunately, Franco had a huge crash in qualifying and put the team under pressure to repair the car, which eventually trailed home in sixteenth place.
Bottas confirmed talks with Alpine
A number of senior paddock figures speak softly when discussing Colapinto’s future, as though its common knowledge he Wii be replaced at Alpine in the near future. Veteran Pit lane reporter, Ted Kravitz expressed his concern for the young Argentina in his latest version of Sky F1’s notebook.
“Franco Colapinto, it would surprise no one in Formula 1 if Franco Colapinto wasn’t being challenged significantly for his seat now,” said Kravitz. “Both by the original occupier, Jack Doohan and potentially by Valtteri Bottas.”
Kravitz noted he’d act least been fulfilling one of Briatore’s three demands in Belgium. “He was given another chance [in Belgium], and he was 19th, so no points for him. At least he didn’t crash. But I feel desperately sorry for Franco Colapinto. I know he can be faster than that, but he’s just not got any confidence in the car at the moment.”
Valtteri Bottas has emerged as a potential short term replacement for Franco Colapinto following his comments at the recent British Grand Prix. When asked if talks had taken place with Briatore over a drive for Alpine this season, Bottas replied: “Yes, you could say that. He first showed interest through Toto.”
Perez contribution now looks good
Yet the Finn was hardly exuberant over the idea questioning whether a few Grand Prix this season were actually what he needed. “A short stint somewhere – will that help me in any way?” He asked rhetorically. “I don’t know. The focus is really on 2026 onwards. I believe that there will probably be more talk about next year than this year.”
The ex-team mate of Lewis Hamilton with his ten Grand Prix wins is favourite to land a seat at new comers Cadillac in 2026 alongside the Sergio Perez who has substantial financial backing. Perez was exited from Red Bull at the end of last year, despite having been awarded a contract to drive for the team in 2025.
Yet the debacle that is the second seat alongside Max Verstappen has continued with the Mexican’s replacements. Liam Lawson lasted just two race weekends while Yuki Tsunoda has scored just seven points for the team in twelve race weekends.
Come the end of 2024, Sergio had one of the worst points contributions of any second seat driver in the Max Verstappen era. He scored 25.8% of the Red Bull final tally which had fallen from 32.4% in his first season. Yet Tsunoda’s contribution this season is minuscule by comparison a point picked up by Perez when speaking to f1.com.
Checo post summer break return?
“Especially last year, I wasn’t able to show what I’m capable of as a driver. Now you suddenly realise how difficult the car is to drive,” mused Checo. “When I came to Red Bull, great drivers were already struggling with it,” added Pérez. “Alex, Pierre – they are fantastic drivers and they were struggling.”
And it is true since the departure of Daniel Ricciardo back in 2018, Verstappen has dominated his team mates, no matter who they have been. Yet with Bottas cool on a short term stint with Alpine, Perez may well be back in F1 even sooner than he expected.
Reports in Europe suggest Briatore has seen enough from Franco Colapinto and hushed words in the paddock suggest his fate is sealed. Checo could well return after the summer break to partner Pierre Gasly. The pair have no history together as team mates and with the Frenchman well ensconced in the French owned team, this will be an uphill battle for the Mexican to fight.
Some have suggested Bottas refused the Alpine drive, given a string of negative results alongside Gasly may affect his future with Cadillac. And the same could be applicable for Perez, unless he already has a water tight contract with the General Motors backed F1 entry.
Alonso rages at “British Press”
The 2025 Formula One rookies on the whole look to be the best new bunch for some time. Obviously Oscar Piastri a recent star recent star signing by McLaren and in his third season is in the heat of battle with his team mate to claim the drivers’ title.
Yet the drivers who are for the first time experiencing driving in Formula One the stakes are high and the only ‘failures’ to date in terms of scoring are Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto.
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