Franco Colapinto is ranked 20th in Pit Debrief’s Driver Rankings for the 2025 F1 season. The Argentine driver hopped into Jack Doohan’s seat for the Imola GP and finishing out the season with Alpine. However, like Doohan, Colapinto ended the season point-less. With an underperforming Alpine A525, Colapinto did not have room to grow.
Lack of pace translating into lack of performance
With three drivers, Alpine finished last in the Constructors’ Championship. The Enstone-based team have struggled to overcome from the lack of pace of the Alpine A525 to make any impact on track. The struggle with the car translated on track, with Colapinto finishing 12 main races lapped by the race leader. Additionally, the Argentine driver was lapped twice in Monaco. The 22-year-old’s teammate, However, Gasly was also lapped 10 times by the race leader in shared races with Colapinto.
Qualifying times compared to Gasly
Having a slow car is nothing new, however Gasly extracted more out of the A525, as seen in the race qualifying data. In shared races, Colapinto had 5 Q2 appearances compared to Gasly’s 10. Furthermore, in Q3, Colapionto did not see Q3 in a main race qualifying this season, with Gasly in 7 Q3 appearances.
Looking at the Q1 and Q2 data in shared races and qualifying sessions, Colapinto has only outpaced Gasly 5 times, with Gasly outpacing Colapinto by 16 times in Q1 and Q2. However, the mean difference tells us more about the disparity between the two Alpine drivers. The mean difference between Colapinto and Gasly for shared Q1 appearances is -0.2162. Which means, on average, Gasly slightly does better with Q1 times than Colapinto. The mean average for Q2 has a bigger skew towards Gasly. However, with both in Q2 3 times at the same time, the data does not accurately show the pace difference between the two drivers.
Below are visual representations of the time difference of shared Q1 and Q2 appearances.
Colapinto in blue | Gasly in pink
Q1 Crashes
In his first qualifying back as a full-time F1 driver, Colapinto misjudged Tamburello, the first chicane at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. After briefly touching the grass, the start of Tamburello, the 22-year-old spun into the gravel trap as he lost control of the rear of the car. The Alpine driver hit the barrier, causing a second major crash in Q1 after Yuki Tsunoda.
The Q1 crashes did not stop at Imola. Colapinto crashed in Silverstone after losing the rear in the final corner. This incident also caused a red flag.
With his 6th race with Alpine at the British GP, rumours started, Colapinto might be replaced like Doohan.
Subsequent crashes
He had further ones in the Sāo Paulo Sprint and Azerbaijan Qualifying. With many other drivers crashing out making the Azerbaijan qualifying the longest qualifying if F1 history, it is hard to fault Colapinto for the crash.
On the other hand, the Argentine did crash away from the fans eyes, during testing at the Hungaroring. The Argentine driver went off at Turn 11 during the Pirelli test with other teams taking part.
Sign of hope
On a positive note for Colapinto, he showed strong pace at times, particularly in races. Austin, Mexico and other rounds has proven he can match or beat Gasly at times.
With Colapinto set to continue with Alpine in 2026, there is a sign of hope that he would have a better car. With Mercedes replacing the Renault power unit and new regulation, Colapinto has a chance to improve.
