Alpine had another mediocre race weekend in Austin. Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto finished nineteenth and seventeenth respectively – thus no points for the Enstone team. However, Colapinto did cause a stir with a late overtaking move on his teammate. While the team instructed both drivers to maintain their positions, the Argentinean had his own agenda. Alpine chastised him on social media, but has since removed the post.
Drama in the backfield? Alpine managed it during the American GP. In the final stages of the race, Franco Colapinto – who was running in P17 at the time – was instructed to stay behind teammate Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman was in sixteenth place, but because he had come in relatively early for soft tires, he was vulnerable to the cars behind him. It was Colapinto’s job to protect his teammate.
‘Handled Internally’
However, the 22-year-old Argentinean had a different idea. “Wait a minute… hold positions?” he exclaimed over the radio, audibly frustrated. “But he’s slow!” He then overtook Gasly – with an aggressive overtaking maneuver in the first corner. Afterwards, he defended his action by stating that he wanted to keep Gabriel Bortoleto behind him. Yet, Alpine was far from pleased with Colapinto’s performance. “We instructed the drivers to maintain their position, as we had to manage the fuel with both cars,” explained team boss Steve Nielsen. “The number of remaining laps and the fact that the leaders were so close to each other played a role.””As a team, all instructions from the pit wall are leading, and today we are disappointed that these were not followed,” he reprimanded Colapinto. “This is something we will look at and handle internally.” The team has since removed the message. The tensions between Alpine and Colapinto come at a delicate moment – rumors have been circulating for weeks that the Argentine may be replaced by test and reserve driver Paul Aron. Colapinto does not yet have a contract for 2026 and so far has not performed much better than his predecessor, Jack Doohan. Senior advisor Flavio Briatore has already stated that no driver from outside the Alpine ranks will be recruited.
The original response from team boss Steve Nielsen (Alpine)
