Franco Colapinto had another strong qualifying session at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP. With back-to-back Q3 appearances, Colapinto managed to qualify P10. After a rocky start into the weekend, the young Argentinian out-qualified teammate Pierre Gasly for the second time.
Colapinto confident for the 2026 F1 Canadian GP
Franco Colapinto showed a strong form at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP Saturday. Although he missed out on points in the Sprint by finishing P9, he kept his head down and put all his focus into Qualifying. And it paid out.
He once again had better speed than teammate Pierre Gasly. While the French driver was out in Q2 and finished P14, Colapinto made it into Q3 and qualified on P10.
“It’s been a good day,” Colapinto summarised, “Very solid and strong Saturday in general. It’s been very good, the Sprint race, of course, starting 13th and finishing 9th, and with that pace, being so close to the points, it was a bit annoying, but it’s just a very, very strong result, starting from that position, and especially the pace that we had. So I’m confident for tomorrow, to be at that.“
Colapinto is proud of Alpine’s step into the right direction
After a very strong finish at the Miami GP, Franco Colapinto’s side of the Alpine garage was able to repeat their strong performance again at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP. With a career-best finish on P7 at the last race, Colapinto has the confidence to do it again.
“Quali was very good. I am very happy and I’m quite proud of the team, of myself, that we’ve been nailing it a few sessions in a row now, and putting it to Q3, maximising the car potential, and I think this one, it’s a bit more, it’s kind of a bit more satisfying than Miami, because it was not easy to get through to Q3, and everything had to be at the limit, and everything had to be perfect. So yeah, I am very proud of the team and the effort that everyone has done to put the car here.“
Alpine had a tricky start into the new season on the Argentine’s side of the garage but it seems like they have left that behind.
Colapinto praises the team for their hard work and is proud of their current success. He hopes that they can deliver the same race from Miami at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP.
“We started the year not in a very good place, but everyone pushed in the right direction and in the same direction to help me understand what was happening, and it’s been very strong since last race in Miami, and now in Canada, I think we brought also that good feeling. So very happy, very grateful with the team. We’ve done a very good job, and a very big effort to put me up there without doing any practise session, and no laps in FP to try anything, or many set-up changes. It was a difficult weekend already with a sprint, and having no practise was even worse. So I’m quite proud, and I think we’ve done a very good job.“
Electrial issues for Colapinto in FP1
The 2026 F1 Canadian GP is a sprint weekend, meaning there is only one practice session for the drivers. Unfortunately, Colapinto had to miss that practice session due to electrical issues. A tough situation as the Sprint Qualifying was his first proper session for the weekend.
“Well, it was tricky. It was very difficult, yeah. It was very difficult, and then going into a qualifying that it’s only one run, because sprint qualis are so short that it’s only one run, one set of tyres. Those were my first laps in this track with this car. Luckily, I knew the track from last year, but it was completely different, full of dust, full of dirt, and the adaptation was hard, but hopefully we nailed it, and we had a good job also yesterday.”
Colapinto underlines that the strong performance of Miami was not a coincidence. Alpine’s development into the right direction helped with the result and that they can keep that momentum.
“No, I was sure it was not a coincidence, Miami, and that it was definitely better, and better feeling, and very comfortable, and very comfortable to push limits, and it showed again that that was the case here, and I am very happy with the performance in general, but also with how we can approach the weekend,” Colapinto concluded.
