Why Colapinto Faced Struggles at Alpine in 2025

Franco Colapinto’s Struggles in the 2025 Formula 1 Season

Franco Colapinto, a 22-year-old driver for Alpine, has openly discussed the challenges he has faced during the 2025 Formula 1 season. His performance has not met expectations, especially when compared to his previous stint with Williams as a substitute last year. Despite showing promise and even scoring points during his time with Williams, Colapinto has yet to secure any points since joining Alpine.

The Argentine driver replaced Jack Doohan at Alpine ahead of the Imola round, seven races into the season. Since then, his teammate Pierre Gasly has managed to accumulate 13 points, highlighting the gap between their performances. Colapinto’s struggles have led him to reflect on the reasons behind his lack of success.

“I’m lacking confidence with the car,” Colapinto admitted. “I’m not finding, sometimes, my feet in some corners. I’m struggling to be able to turn in and to come into the corners and that’s just not really giving me much confidence.”

This issue is something he did not face last year when he was with Williams. “I didn’t have this issue last year, I could go straight in and be quick straight away. Now I’m struggling a bit more with that and that’s the reality. I don’t have the confidence as I had maybe last year and that’s a bit costly in F1.”

Colapinto has identified the need to maximize the entire weekend as an area for improvement. He believes that while progress is being made, it hasn’t translated into results yet. “We’ve been working hard with the team to understand some of the issues and I do believe that we’ve been getting better at some things,” he said.

However, he acknowledges the difficulty of maintaining motivation without seeing immediate results. “It’s just that feeling that nothing has been connected or put back together and that package that we have, it’s been maximised at times, but not in some other times. I feel there is progress that is being done behind the scenes, it’s just that when you don’t see it in results it’s very tricky to keep pushing, to keep working in the same direction because you don’t actually see the results happening.”

Despite the challenges, Colapinto remains optimistic about his future with Alpine. “It’s something that you can’t really rely on when you don’t see it on track. But I do believe that we’ve been getting better in many areas and that we are still working very well with the team. It’s going to come, but it’s just taking longer than what I would like.”

As the 2025 Formula 1 season approaches its summer shutdown, Colapinto will use the break to continue working on his performance. The championship will return in August with the Zandvoort race, but for now, drivers typically take a break. However, Colapinto’s current form and limited time on the grid mean he will remain focused on improving throughout August.

“My season has been a bit shorter so far,” he said. “So I need to keep working and when you are not really comfortable with the performance, I think you just need to keep pushing and keep going. Of course you need time to reset, but you need to use the free time to try to keep learning and understanding what you need to get better at.”

Colapinto is determined to return stronger after the summer break. “We will of course keep pushing forward and try to come back from the summer break stronger than what we left.”