Franco Colapinto triggered the first red flag on Wednesday during the Bahrain test days. The Argentine came to a stop on track after roughly an hour of running. Alpine had only sent him out fairly late, but his opening stint proved short-lived. Little is known so far about the cause of the issue, although it’s not the first time the A526 has shown signs of trouble. The car also failed with technical problems during the closed shakedown in Barcelona.
So far the test programme in Bahrain has been anything but smooth for Alpine. Colapinto, who is covering the morning session on Wednesday, went out noticeably late: the French outfit only sent him onto the circuit after an hour. That first stint was brief; after a few laps he had to bring his A526 to a halt. That stoppage produced the day’s first red flag.
At that point — for what it’s worth — Oscar Piastri held the fastest time, followed by George Russell and Arvid Lindblad. Colapinto logged sixth, half a second quicker than Max Verstappen. The Dutchman is doing Red Bull’s entire Wednesday programme. Colapinto’s car was recovered fairly quickly, after which the other drivers were able to resume running.
