Franco Colapinto of Alpine shared his struggles during the difficult race of the 2025 Azerbaijan GP, which included a collision with Alex Albon and a significant lack of performance from the car. The Argentinian driver felt that he did his best with a “tricky car” but mentioned that a mid-race incident severely hampered his efforts and resulted in a long and challenging afternoon.
Collision with Albon compounds issues
Colapinto explained the incident from his perspective after the race, stating that the contact from Albon caused significant damage and time loss. He described the move to be aggressive in a part of the Azerbaijan circuit that is not typically used for overtaking. This resulted in him hitting the wall.
“You came out of the pits trying to get temperature in the tyres. You knew he was there. It’s not a corner to overtake,” Colapinto said. “He sent it down the inside and hit me on the rear left. Very hard. A bit of damage after that, so it just became a long race.”
The Alpine driver confirmed the impact was substantial, both in terms of immediate time loss and the subsequent damage that affected his pace for the remainder of the race. When questioned about the time costed due to the incident, he replied, “It cost me 12 seconds that I lost in the wall, less than all the damage I had, so a lot for sure.”
Struggling with a “tricky car”
A fundamental issue for Colapinto, beyond the on-track incident, was the A525’s overall lack of speed. The driver had a good start where he gained positions, but found it impossible to maintain his ground due to the performance deficit.
“I just had a pretty big lack of pace,” he admitted. “It’s a pretty tough car. It’s not really easy to drive. Then we have to go more to the limit, take more risks than the others. It’s tricky for us at the moment.”
This necessity to push beyond the limit ultimately contributed to a punishing final stint with damaged tyres and understeer.
Finding the positives
Colapinto remained positive about his own driving despite the challenging result, and stated that he was extracting the maximum from the machinery available to him.
“It was a good weekend in terms of my personal performance. I’m happy with that,” he reflected. “Since Budapest, I am [at] the limit of the car. That’s what I’m happy with.”
Looking forward after a disappointing 2025 Azerbaijan GP, Colapinto affirmed Alpine’s commitment to improving and expressed hope that the upcoming venues would be more favourable for the current package. “The pace and the package is not what we want to be. We need to find more pace, and we are working hard with the team to find more performance,” he concluded. “I think there are going to come some tracks that are going to be better for us in America, in Mexico.”
