Ahead of the 2025 F1 Dutch GP, Franco Colapinto has refelcted on his performance during the first half of his Formula One season with Alpine.
The Argentine has had a tough start to the 2025 F1 season. He is currently the only driver on the grid right now who hasn’t scored any points so far. However, looking ahead, Colapinto is confident that he can improve.
Colapinto on what lessons from the first half of the season he will take with him to the next set of races
Speaking in a print media session at the F1 Dutch GP, Colapinto shared how he was able to reflect over the summer break and learn from the first half of the season for the next 10 races.
Alpine have struggled for consistent pace throughout the season. While Pierre Gasly has performed magnificently at times, it has somewhat disguised their lack of speed.
“We need to take a step.
“I think as a team we are trying to understand where we can extract that performance.
“But we know we need some extra tenths.
“It’s very close, the midfield.
“We just feel like we need that extra little bit of the car that we are trying to find.
“We are working hard.
“Sometimes we lack some consistency. We know that the car is very quick at times.
“Sometimes we lack some performance that we don’t fully understand where it comes from.
“I think still some work in progress, and we are trying to get the most out of it.
“It’s always good to be able to reflect and go back into what can be done better.
“I think it’s always a good moment, the summer break to do that.
“We will always keep working hard to get where we want to be.”
At the last race before the Summer break in Hungary, Colapinto finished 18th, one position ahead of his Alpine teammate, Pierre Gasly who finished 19th after recieving a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision. The driver from Argentina also outqualified his teammate for the second time in 8 races.
Franco Colapinto says it is going to feel “easier” during the second half of the season after learning the tracks during the 2024 F1 season
During the 2024 F1 season, Colapinto replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams from the Italian GP. He was able achieve his highest race finish of 8th on the streets of Baku. A series of great drives to start with left a good mark on everyone.
He has not had as impressive a season in 2025 for Alpine. However, Franco Colapinto thinks that after learning these tracks last year he will be able to produce better results going into the Dutch GP and beyond. He has raced in lower formulas at Zandvoort.
“Well it definitely is going to feel a bit easier to go into these tracks knowing the track and knowing a bit about how Formula 1 works.
“Last year was a bit of a shock going into Baku with no prep and going into Singapore with no prep either.
“Going to all these new tracks, sprint races in Austin and not knowing any of the tracks, not knowing the car. It did feel like something very straightforward and felt straight away quite quick.
“This year I’m lacking a bit of that but hopefully going into tracks that I already raced last year it does bring me some performance and confidence with the car. Hopefully that’s what im lacking a little bit this year.
“I think in general the last few rounds have been better in terms of performance at least compared to Pierre.
“That was something that we’ve been working hard on and we found that.
“I think that’s always good news.
“We need to keep working to find more pace out of the car and not have weekends like Budapest where we really struggle for pace.”
Colapinto’s improvements and how much he understands the Alpine car ahead of the 2025 F1 Dutch GP
Colapinto has stated that he still needs time to feel more comfortable in the Alpine A525. However, he is confident that he has improved in the last few weekends.
Colapinto is using this as motivation heading into the Dutch GP.
“I think, at least in Budapest, it has been very consistent.
“I’ve been quite happy. Not for the overall performance, but just generally understanding a bit better the car, going out in every session and being on the money very quickly.
“It’s something that I’ve been lacking a little bit compared to last season.
“I think in Budapest I found it back.
“There are still a lot of things that I need to feel more confident and feel that the car is a bit more suitable to how we are driving.
“But i think we did a little step, of course, In really reflecting on the actual performance of the team because we did struggle quite a lot, Pierre and myself.
“At least compared to Pierre, that is my direct comparison. It has been much better than the last couple of weekends.
“So that’s, I think, the best progress that we’ve shown over the last few races.
“That’s a motivation for these few more races.”
The Oxfordshire-based team are currently last in the standings, 15 points behind Haas. Pierre Gasly has been able to score 20 points for Alpine. Nonetheless, Franco Colapinto is confident that he can improve going into the next half of the 2025 F1 season and the Dutch GP.
