Franco Colapinto reveals he feels “out of phase” with Alpine’s 2025 Formula 1 challenger but hopes to make amends at the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.
Colapinto was drafted into the A525, mid-way through the 2025 season, on the back of his mercurial cameo with Williams last season.
Replacing Logan Sargeant for the final nine rounds, the Argentinian pulled in some stellar results for the Grove-based team, including two points-scoring finishes in Baku and Austin.
Signed up as Alpine’s reserve driver for this season, he was placed alongside Pierre Gasly after a misfiring rookie Jack Doohan was given the axe six rounds in.
But with three race weekends already under his belt, Colapinto has failed to recapture the form he showed at Williams that earned him a spot on the Enstone-based team in the first place.
The 22-year-old suffered a hefty crash during qualifying on his Alpine debut at Imola, and followed it up with a 13th and 15th-place finishes at Monaco and Barcelona, respectively.
Comparing his stint at Williams with Alpine, he revealed that he has been struggling to adapt to the characteristics of the A525, exacerbating his dip in performance.
“When I came into Williams last year, I had never driven another Formula 1 car, so I couldn’t really compare it to anything else, whereas now I have got that,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“At Alpine I’m learning a lot. There are many good things, there are some things that are different.
“The car is very different to drive as well, and it’s just getting up to speed with that and trying to understand what’s the quickest way around it.”
Colapinto has particularly struggled with how the team sets up the car and the tools that he has at his disposal to clock in the lap times.
“I felt very much almost out of phase with everything – with the tools in the car, with the set-up. One thing was fighting the other one. Once we understood that after the race in Barcelona, it made much more sense to me.”
Colapinto optimistic about Canadian GP prospects
Colapinto will be hoping to assimilate himself more with the car and turn his fortunes around at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve this weekend, a venue he hasn’t been to.
To that end, he has used the time to put in the hours with the team back at the factory trying to nail down the final details and is happy with the gains that he has seen.
“I spent a lot of days in the sim, a lot of days in the factory with the engineers,” he explained.
“We worked on many things. Just generally there are some things setup-wise that have not been working for me.
“I think here, I arrive with a bit more confidence. We need that step, so hopefully we can do it here.”
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