Franco Colapinto finished 15th at the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP with Alpine, having had a tough day in the last race before the summer break.
The reason for that being was the low grip and lack in pace. Both Colapinto and Pierre Gasly declared afterwards their frustration with Alpine’s performance last weekend.
As it stands, the Argentine is 12th in the Drivers’ standings, with 19 points to his name. His teammate Gasly is on 42 in tenth. Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad splits the duo with 23.
Franco Colapinto unhappy after tricky afternoon at the F1 Hungary GP
Colapinto had to sit out the first practice session, as Paul Aron, Alpine’s test and reserve driver, took his car. Later that day, when it was Colapinto’s turn, he crashed during practice due to low grip at the final turn, damaging the rear of the car. He went into Saturday massively on the back foot.
After the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP, Colapinto reported that the lack in pace and grip added immensely to the outcome of the race. He finished behind both Aston Martins when the chequered flag fell.
“No, not very happy of course. I think after a really tricky afternoon, in general, we lacked a lot of pace. After the first three laps, I started to really slide with the car and after that I never really recovered. Even with new tyres, we were still really far off the pace and really slow.”
The Argentine started on P13 on Sunday, just behind his teammate. However, he finished three places and a long way behind on Sunday.
With the summer break around the corner, the team is able to revise the data and come back stronger.
“So I think we need to understand why, maybe I had some damage, something happened. It was quite odd, the balance and the kind of grip I had was very, very poor. I think we need to go through it and understand it.”
Colapinto on the constant blue panels during the race
On Sunday at the Hungaroring the importance of blue flags and panels was shown again, as it was an eventful race. During the race Williams Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri made contact, as the Spaniard didn’t notice the Australian as the system wasn’t working properly.
“Yeah, we had the blue panels going on for the full race. It was a bit of an odd one, but we could manage it, I think, with the radio anyway,” Colapinto shared.
Colapinto on the Aston Martin drivers splitting the Alpine duo
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso split the Alpine duo on Sunday, respectively. Alonso started in P16 and improved two places. Stroll started in P20 and finished 13th. Colapinto shared that the duo wasn’t making the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP easy for him and Gasly.
“Well, I think [Aston Martin] look really strong in the corners. On the straights, they are really slow and they are losing a lot of lap time. So it shows that we can make a big step.”
