On Wednesday, Franco Colapinto was given the opportunity to test drive the new Pirelli tyres for 2026. Alpine, Ferrari, McLaren, and Racing Bulls participated in a two-day test at the Hungaroring this week. However, Colapinto’s test drive was cut short when the Argentine crashed his A525 coming out of turn 11. Pirelli has since stated that the new tyres were not the cause of the incident.
The damage to the Alpine car was substantial, but fortunately, Colapinto was unharmed. After a medical check-up at the circuit, he was declared ‘okay’, as Alpine announced via social media on Wednesday: “Franco has been examined on-site and is doing well.” Colapinto was testing the new, more compact Pirelli tyres that will be introduced from 2026. These tyres are part of the upcoming regulation changes, where the cars will be downsized to make racing more exciting.
Mario Isola, head of motorsport at Pirelli, dismissed the suggestion that the crash had anything to do with the new tyres. “We collected a lot of data, although it was unfortunate that we lost some of our planned kilometres today due to Colapinto going off the track,” he stated in an official Pirelli press release. “The incident was in no way related to the tyres,” he added.
Valuable Tests
“These were two valuable days to make progress with the development of our compounds for next season,” Isola continued. “We are now in the final phase of the development process. The Hungaroring proved to be a demanding circuit due to the many slow corners and the amount of energy put into the tyres during a relatively short lap. This makes it a challenging location to test tyres.”
“We have three more test sessions to complete the development of the compounds,” Isola concluded. Pirelli will conduct further tests later this year in Monza, Mugello, and Mexico City. The revised tyres for 2026 will have a narrower profile – 25 millimetres less at the front and 30 millimetres less at the back compared to the current specifications.”
