Franco Colapinto was left disappointed after contact with Arvid Lindblad damaged his Alpine beyond repair at the 2026 F1 United States GP, forcing him to retire on Lap 30.
Colapinto’s race at the Circuit of the Americas came to an early end after the incident with the Racing Bulls driver on the approach to Turn 1 left significant damage to the sidepod and floor of his Alpine, bringing a frustrating weekend in Austin to a close.
Colapinto explains contact at 2026 United States GP
Starting 20th after a 10-place grid penalty for a component change, the Argentine opted for the hard compound tyre in an attempt to make progress through the field.
He overtook the Cadillac drivers early on but lost out to Bortoleto as well. He was going long in the first stint and did some decent lap times, until he became a blocker to try and hold up Lindblad to make sure his French teammate kept position against the Brit.
“Damage, contact with Arvid. I mean, the whole sidepod and floor was broken,” Colapinto explained in the print media pen after the race.
“Yeah, a pity. We started from the back and then it really didn’t work to start. I think I chose to do it on the hard to see if we could do something interesting, but yeah, we couldn’t.
“So yeah, a bit of a pity. I am looking forward to Mexico, to turn this around and not do the penalties and go back to fishing races.”
Colapinto explains contact with Lindblad
The Argentine also provided his understanding of the incident involving Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad at the start of Lap 25.
As Gasly was emerging from the pit lane, Lindblad was passing the Argentinian driver. In Turn 1, the 23-year-old got deep, made contact with the Racing Bulls car and spun. Ultimately, he picked up damage that ended his day.
“Yeah, Pierre was out of the pits, I was trying to keep Arvid behind, so Pierre could be ahead. We were the three of us side-by-side and I got sandwiched, so I got totally damaged. But it’s part of racing.”
The damage to the floor and sidepod ultimately forced Alpine to retire Colapinto’s car after 35 of the 56 Laps, ending any hopes of recovering from his difficult starting position.
Even before the contact, the Argentine admitted that getting suck behind Carlos Sainz had made it challenging to move forward.
“Our race was not looking very good. I think with all the traffic I had, it wasn’t looking super good. We need to come back stronger in Mexico now and try to not give up on at least finishing races.”
Positives from race pace for Franco Colapinto in 2026 F1 United States GP
Despite the disappointing outcome, Colapinto identified some encouraging signs in the car’s performance, particularly when he was able to run in clean air.
Although the limited number of tours without traffic made it difficult to assess the car’s balance fully, he felt Alpine’s underlying race pace had been strong throughout the Austin weekend.
“The balance was not bad when we were in clean air. There wasn’t a lot of laps, so it’s a bit hard to judge, but generally our race pace this weekend was very strong. So yeah, hopefully we can take that on to the next weekend in Mexico,” Colapinto said.
