{"id":792233,"date":"2026-07-10T06:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T06:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/792233\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T06:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T06:21:17","slug":"theres-a-better-option-alpine-make-honest-franco-colapinto-f1-future-admission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/792233\/","title":{"rendered":"‘There’s a better option’: Alpine make honest Franco Colapinto F1 future admission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alpine Managing Director Steve Nielsen has laid down the criteria Franco Colapinto<\/a> needs to fulfil to secure his Formula 1<\/a> future.<\/p>\n

Colapinto came into Alpine, as a replacement for Jack Doohan, only three rounds into the 2025 campaign, after an impressive nine-race cameo for Williams, at the end of 2024. <\/p>\n

That said, while the Argentinian had impressed the paddock with his performances in the FW46, Alpine\u2019s A525 was a crude reminder of the ground realities of F1, for the 23-year-old.<\/p>\n

The Enstone-based team<\/a> endured a difficult end to the ground effects era, with a deficient package, which Colapinto had a tough time to adapt to. <\/p>\n

But despite a lacklustre 2025, he was signed up for this season by the team. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, everybody wants more,\u201d Nielsen said addressing Colapinto\u2019s future at the team for 2027. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think Franco is a driver that has been a slow starter, dare I say it. He\u2019s getting better. He\u2019s produced some good runs this year already. Miami was good. China was good. He\u2019s improving.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think he\u2019s there on merit and when the time comes, we\u2019ll make the decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FrancoFranco Colapinto stormed through the field to score points at Silverstone <\/p>\n

Nine rounds into 2026, Colapinto has already produced five points scoring finishes, accumulating 18 points for Alpine. <\/p>\n

These included a stellar seventh and sixth placed finishes at Miami and Canada, respectively. At Silverstone, last weekend, he put in a solid recovery drive from P19 to take the chequered flag in ninth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet, Nielsen has warned Colapinto to not rest on his laurels, as he still has much to prove before Alpine commits to his future beyond 2026. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s good enough, he\u2019ll stay, and if he\u2019s not, then there\u2019s a better option,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just Formula 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Franco Colapinto needs to do to secure Alpine F1 future <\/p>\n

One of the biggest areas of concern for Alpine, last season, was Colapinto\u2019s inability to extract the maximum from whatever pace its car had to offer. <\/p>\n

This was often on display compared to his team-mate Pierre Gasly. <\/p>\n

This season, however, Nielsen has highlighted how the 23-year-old has more often than not been a match, and sometimes, even exceeded the Frenchman, on track. <\/p>\n

More of the same, and Colapinto could find himself with a seat with Alpine heading into next season. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think his consistency, particularly in races, is a lot better than it was and his ability to hang on to Pierre,\u201d Nielsen explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe did a little bit of that last year but our car last year was so bad it was difficult to separate wheat from the chaff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think this year there\u2019s been a few times where he\u2019s been a match for Pierre and that\u2019s good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naturally, Colapinto would want to build on this British GP exploits to make it back-to-back top 10 finishes at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit, in two weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

READ MORE \u2013 Franco Colapinto issues plea for F1 return to Argentina<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alpine Managing Director Steve Nielsen has laid down the criteria Franco Colapinto needs to fulfil to secure his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[1035,49,48,578,576,577,1036,82],"class_list":["post-792233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-alpine","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-franco-colapinto","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792233","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=792233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}