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Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen has made clear that Franco Colapinto’s future with the team beyond 2026 will be decided by performance, not sentiment, after the Argentinian’s marked improvement this season.
Colapinto first arrived at Alpine last season and contested the final 18 rounds of the 2025 campaign after replacing Jack Doohan, who is now Haas reserve. It was a difficult introduction. He struggled for rhythm, made costly errors and was regularly short of Pierre Gasly’s pace, leaving serious questions over whether he was ready for a full-time Formula 1 seat.
Alpine nevertheless committed to him for this season, and so far that decision has been rewarded. Colapinto has taken a significant step forward in 2026, matching Gasly more often and occasionally beating him. He has scored points in five of the nine completed races, with sixth place in Montreal standing as his best result.
That turnaround matters at a team still under scrutiny, with Alpine’s wider direction also in focus after Renault recently assessed its partnership landscape, as covered in our report on Renault’s view of Otro’s Alpine F1 partnership.
Asked about Colapinto’s position, Nielsen described a driver whose development curve has been slower than ideal, but increasingly convincing.
“Well, everybody wants more. I think Franco is a driver that has been a slow starter, dare I say it. He’s getting better,” Nielsen said.
“He’s produced some good runs this year already. Miami was good. China was good. He’s improving. So I think he’s there on merit and when the time comes, we’ll make the decisions.”
Nielsen’s message was blunt, but entirely consistent with the realities of Formula 1.
“If he’s good enough, he’ll stay, and if he’s not, then there’s a better option. That’s just Formula 1.”
Part of Colapinto’s difficulty last year was Alpine’s car, which Nielsen acknowledged made assessment more complicated. The team had one of the weakest packages on the grid, and Colapinto struggled to adapt. This season, however, the new power unit regulations appear better suited to his driving style, allowing Alpine to judge him against Gasly with greater confidence.
“I think his consistency, particularly in races, is a lot better than it was and his ability to hang on to Pierre,” Nielsen added.
“He 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. But I think this year there’s been a few times where he’s been a match for Pierre and that’s good to see.”
For Colapinto, the equation is now straightforward: keep scoring, keep reducing the gap to Gasly, and his Alpine seat can become far more than a short-term opportunity.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.