Alpine Optimistic About Franco Colapinto's Future Performance

Alpine team principal, Steve Nielsen, believes that Franco Colapinto, nicknamed the "slow burner," will be able to improve his performance in the next F1 season. Colapinto was called to drive the Alpine 2025, which was less competitive, after Jack Doohan was removed from driving duties, but the Argentine driver failed to score points.

Colapinto's best finish was 11th place in the Netherlands, and in qualifying, he was 0.315 seconds slower than team leader Pierre Gasly on average in the 18 races they competed together. Colapinto started his F1 career with Williams in 2024, scoring points in two of his first four races, including his best finish of eighth place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after his debut in Monza.

However, burdened with the Alpine 2025 engine, he was unable to add to those points. Nevertheless, after switching from Renault to Mercedes engine supplier, Nielsen is confident that more of Colapinto's potential will be uncovered in the upcoming season, with Alpine hoping to compete in the front midfield of F1.

"It's no secret that last year's car had some inherent issues, and we've addressed some of those with this car, which is very good," Nielsen told the media, including RacingNews365. "The drivers can take more corners, and they're not complaining about the ride, maybe because we're no longer in the ground effects era, so some big obstacles have been overcome."

"Franco is a talent, and I think he may be a slow burner, maybe he develops a bit slower than some of the others, but last year, we saw him have some good races, especially compared to Pierre. Unfortunately, that was our only comparison for some of the races last year because we were behind, but now I think Franco will get better over time."

"We've seen it, and if we give him a better car, which I'm sure we have, then we'll see the best of him."