{"id":431617,"date":"2026-01-25T04:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/431617\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T04:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:33:12","slug":"franco-colapinto-much-more-mature-not-the-child-of-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/431617\/","title":{"rendered":"Franco Colapinto much more mature, not the child of last year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Franco Colapinto<\/a> is looking \u201cmuch more mature\u201d ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season, according to Alpine<\/a> executive advisor Flavio Briatore.<\/p>\n

The young Argentinian is set to contest his first full F1 campaign, having previously stepped into a race seat mid-season in 2024 with Williams<\/a> and then again at Alpine in 2025, replacing Jack Doohan<\/a> from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix onwards.<\/p>\n

Colapinto endured a difficult 2025 campaign as Alpine switched its focus early to the 2026 regulation overhaul, as he finished the season without scoring a point. This contrasted sharply with his stint at Williams, where he reached Q3 and scored his first points in just his second race, at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

While he appeared to come under scrutiny at times from Briatore, Alpine ultimately renewed its faith in Colapinto, announcing a contract extension for 2026 last November during the Brazilian round.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was Franco\u2019s first year in Formula 1 [sic]. There were a lot of expectations, this and that. Everything was not managed properly,\u201d Briatore said when asked by Motorsport.com whether Colapinto would be judged differently in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, you see Franco\u2019s face and he is much more mature. He\u2019s no longer like the child we had last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Franco <\/p>\n

Franco Colapinto, Alpine<\/p>\n

Photo by: Alpine<\/p>\n

During races last season, Colapinto often showed comparable pace to his more experienced team-mate Pierre Gasly<\/a>, but qualifying proved to be a weakness. He ended the year trailing Gasly 17\u20135 in their qualifying head-to-head.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent a lot of time with him this winter,\u201d Briatore added. \u201cFranco\u2019s main problem was qualifying, because in the race he was quick, like Pierre.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just needed to drive the car and qualify using his talent, not drive it emotionally. He\u2019s growing. He\u2019s very good in the factory. We spent a lot of time in the simulator, a lot of time in the simulator. We\u2019ve done everything it\u2019s possible to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Colapinto echoed his boss\u2019s comments and stressed that Alpine must now deliver results, with the team aiming to make a significant step forward after finishing last in the 2025 constructors\u2019 championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a team, there are no more excuses,\u201d Colapinto said. \u201cThe power unit has changed and the regulations have changed. Now we have to put the work in and deliver performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year we were focusing on 2026, and now 2026 has arrived. It\u2019s time to go and get the results the team deserves. Everyone has been working very hard. Hopefully it\u2019s a quick car. It looks good, hopefully it\u2019s fast, and we can achieve the results we expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Franco Colapinto is looking \u201cmuch more mature\u201d ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season, according to Alpine executive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[1035,178879,49,48,578,576,577,1036,179727,179728,82],"class_list":["post-431617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-alpine","tag-alpine-launch","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-franco-colapinto","tag-franco-colapinto-much-more-mature","tag-not-the-child-of-last-year-flavio-briatore","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}