{"id":670785,"date":"2026-05-15T08:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T08:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/670785\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T08:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T08:23:11","slug":"is-franco-colapinto-finally-gaining-momentum-in-formula-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/670785\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Franco Colapinto finally gaining momentum in Formula 1?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Franco Colapinto picked up his best-ever Formula 1<\/a> result in Miami, raising an interesting question: Is he starting to show a bit of potential at Alpine?\u00a0Now powered by a Mercedes engine, Alpine are in improved form. The Enstone team have consistently been in the mix for points, and Colapinto capitalized on upgrades introduced at the Miami Grand Prix<\/a> to take seventh\u2014his joint best finish in F1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following a turbulent return to the sport last year, when his future was questioned openly by team boss Flavio Briatore, Colapinto has started this season better. The Argentine has been closer to teammate Pierre Gasly, and he picked up another point for tenth in China as well. Public criticism has been replaced by pats on the back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s quite the turnaround for someone labelled a \u201cpay driver\u201d<\/a>\u00a0just a few months ago. The comeback isn\u2019t quite complete. We\u2019re only a few races into the new campaign. Last season was also a low bar to beat. But Colapinto has done alright so far in 2026.\u00a0Surviving a baptism of fire\"colapinto<\/p>\n

Colapinto\u2019s start to life in F1 can be compared to a trial by fire. When he debuted with Williams, replacing Logan Sargeant at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix, it was not like he was joining a front-running team. But he did okay, earning points in Azerbaijan & the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite reports linking him to a permanent seat, he was then forced to sit out the start of last season. It was only Briatore\u2019s knee-jerk decision to drop Jack Doohan that opened the door to Colapinto\u2019s return\u2014and things didn\u2019t really go so well. Not immediately, anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He suffered a massive crash on his return at Imola. This was followed by further shunts in Baku, S\u00e3o Paulo, and on a filming day in Budapest<\/a>. Colapinto enjoyed a small uptick in form in the last few races but failed to score a point, and he was ultimately lucky to keep his seat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Alpine, a team that was (and still is) up for sale, Briatore was taking no prisoners. He definitely offered some \u201ctough love,\u201d some of which was dished out in public. However, young Colapinto survived these near misses and appears to be in decent form. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The Argentine effect: Colapinto\u2019s noisy fanbase\"colapinto<\/p>\n

Anyone who has been to a grand prix since Colapinto\u2019s comeback will likely tell you the same thing: his fans are loud! The first Argentine driver since Gaston Mazzacane (who last competed way back in 2001) has brought South American fans back in droves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For F1, it\u2019s probably looked upon as a major positive. Returning fans means greater revenue from an audience that hasn\u2019t had all that much to cheer for in recent times. Last month, at a showrun in Buenos Aires, Colapinto attracted over half a million fans<\/a> to the city\u2019s streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the other hand, it\u2019s not like this fanbase is squeaky clean. When Colapinto clashed with Haas\u2019 Esteban Ocon in China, the Frenchman received death threats. Last year, a fake social media post also triggered a backlash against Doohan\u2019s father. So, this isn\u2019t exactly a one-off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alpine have even had to call for respect on socials<\/a>, such has been the vitriol from online fans. All of this isn\u2019t Colapinto\u2019s fault, of course. But he continues to get involved in on-track incidents that provoke these reactions and raise questions about whether he has fully turned a corner.\u00a0Colapinto still has a lot left to prove\"Colapinto-Suzuka-2-2026\"\/<\/p>\n

Before we get ahead of ourselves, it\u2019s worth remembering that we\u2019re only four races into the season. This isn\u2019t a good dataset for building lasting opinions. Alpine are also reasonably quick, certainly fast enough to compete for points on merit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arguably, the biggest reason that the jury\u2019s still out on Colapinto is his form relative to Gasly\u2019s. Of Alpine\u2019s 23 points, Gasly is still responsible for 16 of them. In 2025, he also wiped the floor with Colapinto, bringing home all 22 points over a dismal campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colapinto now has the machinery to compete. If he\u2019s going to make it in F1, he\u2019ll need to do a lot better against his teammate. Having got involved with Ocon in China, Lewis Hamilton in Miami, and Ollie Bearman in Japan, Colapinto also needs clean races.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Showing potential is one thing. Pleasing a taskmaster like Flavio Briatore is another. He\u2019s a tough customer at the best of times.<\/p>\n

Colapinto has earned himself a reprieve, but he needs to keep up the pace, or Briatore\u2019s inner disciplinarian might shine through once again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Franco Colapinto picked up his best-ever Formula 1 result in Miami, raising an interesting question: Is he starting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[71688,49,48,578,170450,576,577,1036,3022,82],"class_list":["post-670785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-alpine-f1-team","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-f1-opinion","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-franco-colapinto","tag-pierre-gasly","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670785","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=670785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}