Franco Colapinto finished sixth at the 2026 Canadian GP, marking his best F1 result so far — and the Argentine explained just how special the achievement was, given he had “no free practice” after a throttle issue during Friday’s sole practice session prevented him from completing a single lap of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve before Sprint Qualifying.
Colapinto: Lack of practice after issues in FP1 made 2026 F1 Canadian GP “tough”
Colapinto’s weekend at the 2026 Canadian GP seemed derailed from the very beginning, as a throttle pedal issue on his Alpine forced him to miss the entire first practice session — a setback that could have proven especially costly on a Sprint weekend.
But despite the disruption, the Alpine driver still fought his way into the top 10 in Qualifying for the main race and went on to secure an impressive P6 after McLaren’s collapse and George Russell’s mechanical failure. That result left him comfortably best of the rest behind Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull, while also marking the best finish of his F1 career so far.
“[I’m] personally really happy with my best result [in F1],” Colapinto said. “It’s been a very solid weekend without having any free practice. And it’s been tough to start like that, a Sprint weekend without having any [practice] and going straight into Quali with no laps.
“But I think even with that, we maximised the weekend so well, which makes me very happy and proud of the team.
“We scored a lot of points today, we were really quick. We had a lot of pace, so yeah, looking forward to the next one.”
Colapinto: “Really poor” grip after morning rain in 2026 F1 Canadian GP made it a “stressful” race
The threat of rain that had been widely expected for the race never fully materialised — even though seven drivers opted to start on intermediate tyres — but the slightly damp track and very cool air and track temperatures made it very difficult to get the tyres into any sort of decent working window.
When asked about the conditions, the Alpine driver admitted the grip around the circuit was “very poor”, making for a “stressful” race as drivers tried to manage not only tyre temperatures, but also the brakes.
“Yeah, it was very poor,” he explained. “The grip was very poor, especially in the restarts and all this. It was very poor when the [temperatures] would drop, the surfaces and even the brakes.
“And it was just very, very cold overall; the temperatures were down. It was quite tricky behind the wheel, it was quite stressful,” he admitted.
“But I think after my first pit stop, I just had the gap to drive quite easily and not take any risks and bring it home in the 6th.”
Colapinto believes back-to-back strong results prove his pace is no fluke
The Argentine driver first made a strong impression in Miami, where he finished seventh to match what was then his best result in F1, and he backed that up in Canada by going one better this weekend.
Colapinto believes those performances prove his Miami result was not simply “casual”, and expects this level to become the standard moving forward. Despite his lack of practice time, he comfortably outperformed teammate Pierre Gasly across both weekends.
“I think [this] shows that it’s not something casual,” he said. “It’s going to be much more consistent like this from now on.
“I’m very happy for all the effort that everyone has done in Enstone to help me to find the pace, to find the performance, and I am very proud of that.”
Colapinto admits circumstances helped Alpine secure P6 in Canada
While Colapinto believes his personal form can remain at this level, he admitted Alpine are not yet in a position to fight for sixth place purely on merit, pointing out that retirements and issues for several frontrunners helped shape the final result at the 2026 Canadian GP.
“Of course, we need to keep bringing a lot of performance. It is P6, but also it’s two McLarens behind and George [Russell] has stopped on track, so we didn’t need to push a lot the car. We had a lot of margin behind.
“I am very sure that the team is going to go for much more than before [in the future].”
After a strong result at the Canadian GP, Colapinto sits 11th in the 2026 F1 drivers’ championship with 15 points, just one point behind Liam Lawson in the top 10. Teammate Pierre Gasly remains eighth, five points further ahead.
