After a string of bad results, Franco Colapinto saw a positive start to the Canadian GP weekend. The Argentine finally looked comfortable in the car and out-qualified teammate Pierre Gasly for the first time. Furthermore, Colapinto looked poised to score his first points for the season, starting in P10.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. Colapinto got off to a chaotic start at the Canadian GP, gaining a place over Alex Albon only to lose it to Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 9 of Lap 1.
However, what really let him down was the strategy. Colapinto started the race on a set of used medium compound tires. That may have given him a quicker start than expected, but it only lasted 14 laps. The Alpine driver replaced them with a new set of hard tyres, which he ran for the remaining race.
The pit stop wasn’t well-timed, though. Colapinto’s 14th lap pit stop saw him rejoin the track behind a bunch of cars. The traffic and the resultant dirty air ultimately kept him from scoring points as he got stuck behind Gabriel Bortoleto for many, many laps.
“Yeah, it was maybe not what we were expecting. It was a tough day, I think, out there. We were in a decent place to have a good opportunity of scoring some points,” Colapinto said in the print media pen after the Canadian GP. “I think it’s just the wrong strategy for what happened later in the race.”
“Yeah, we need to understand, but I think we just got a bit unlucky today with the strategy. Everyone stayed out, trying to help their teammates, and they kept backing us off. And yeah, just destroyed the tyres. You know, when you’re in the dirty, it’s very tricky to overtake with our lack of power on the straights. Yeah, just a tough day.”
Colapinto further addressed the two first-lap incidents that were perhaps the only highlight of his Canadian GP.
Franco Colapinto addresses first lap Albon incident at F1 Canadian GP
Colapinto, who started behind Albon in P9, got off to a better start to rob the Thai driver of the position. However, Albon fought back and got wheel-to-wheel with the Argentine, going into turns 8 and 9.
Given how narrow that part of the track is, Albon took evasive action by running into the grassy run-off area. The Williams driver dashed through the run-off area to rejoin the track on the racing line.
All too aware, the experienced Hulkenberg placed his car on the inside of the racing line. That helped him not just avoid the torpedoing Albon but also overtake him and Colapinto.
While the Argentine rued losing the position to Hulkenberg, he maintained that the Sauber was “weaker” compared to his Alpine at the F1 Canadian GP.
“We [he and Albon] just went side by side, it’s a very tight corner [turn 8 and 9], and we managed to make it both together, unfortunately. But when he [Albon] rejoined, I thought he was going to come back on the racing line, because he went flat out through us. And yeah, I just lost the place to Nico,” rued Colapinto.
“I think he [Hulkenberg] was still weaker than us today. They had better pace in the Sauber and in the Haas, so it was still going to be tricky to keep them behind. But I think we did the best we could with what we had, to understand what we can do better.”
Colapinto claims to be getting comfortable with the car amidst seat swap rumors
Alpine began the 2025 season with Gasly and rookie driver Jack Doohan. The Australian was, unfortunately, demoted to the sidelines after just six races, as he failed to score any points and also cost the team a fortune with a couple of heavy crashes.
In comes Colapinto as the replacement, with reports claiming a five-race stint for the former Williams driver. While team boss Flavio Briatore rubbished the five-race deadline, the Italian clarified that Colapinto did not have a secured seat, either.
The #43 driver is already four races into his rumored five-race stint and like his predecessor, has failed to score points thus far. However, he believes he is getting more and more comfortable with the car with each passing session. That is perhaps the only positive Colapinto took from the Canadian GP.
“This one is a very tough track, it’s not an easy one,” Colapinto emphasized. “Yeah, I think generally I felt more comfortable with the car. We’ve done some positive changes and I’ve been feeling better over the weekend, over the laps. We need to keep working, but I think it’s a good start to the progression.”
Briatore’s cryptic response has only added fuel to the fire of speculations over Colapinto’s seat. And if the five-race deadline is for real, the 22-year-old might just have to pull off a miracle at the upcoming Austrian GP.
