During a print media session at the 2026 F1 Monaco GP, Franco Colapinto discussed how his season has compared to last year. After Colapinto joined Alpine in the 7th race of the 2025 season, he was unable to score a point. This year, Colapinto has already scored 15 points just 5 races in.
Franco Colapinto on how this season differs from last year
Alpine brought Franco Colapinto in for the Imola GP in 2025 to replace Jack Doohan. However Colapinto struggled and was unable to score any points in the 2025 season. His Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, had a tough season as well finishing P18 in the Drivers’ Championship; the car was simply not up to scratch.
Alpine finished the 2025 F1 season in last place in the Constructors’ Championship. This year they are currently in 5th.
Ahead of the 2026 Monaco GP, Colapinto examined why this year has gone so well compared to last. Not only in terms of car performance, but his own as well.
“I think a lot of things changed of course. There is a new car, new regulations. Everything is completely different.
“The way I came into the year was the opposite to last year. I’ve had a full pre-season test. And generally, with the car, I’ve been feeling very comfortable since the start of the year. For some reason that performance was not coming the first couple of races. But even though we were not as quick as we wanted in the first few races. I was feeling much more comfortable in the car, much more together, much more connected to the car.
“That to me, was the biggest difference. I was having quite a strong feeling that I was in a good place. Even though the pace was not quite coming. We had a lot of work to understand the reasons, and once it clicked, it was a lot more easy.
“It’s been a year where I feel much more consistent in terms of delivery every session. So, that’s going a much better way than last year. And that comes with the confidence and the comfort that I’m feeling with the team this year.”
The Argentine achived his career best finish at the 2026 Canadian GP, finishing 6th and scoring 8 points for Alpine.
Franco Colapinto discusses how the Alpine has improved since last year ahead of the 2026 Monaco GP
During the 2025 F1 season, Franco Colapinto admitted he lacked confidence with the car, resulting in many disappointing days.
Following new regulations, each driver has entered the 2026 season with some uncertainty on how the cars will behave. Colapinto was also able to complete pre-season testing for the first time in his F1 career allowing him more time to become comfortable with the A526.
Ahead of the 2026 Monaco GP, Franco Colapinto discussed how this year, the Apline is more competitive and consistent.
The 23-year-old also stated that the car “feels a bit more natural to drive.”
“That is the main part. I do believe that we and everybody at the factory have put a car together that is competitive but that is also consistent. You can drive it kind of the same every lap and not get so many different results from one corner to another.
“And that’s still improving but it is probably the part that we didn’t have last year was consistency we were getting from one lap to another and from one corner to another.
“And this year the car is feeling much more connected and you can push more. But it just feels a bit more natural to drive and you are not so tense and getting this bouncing and these kind of traction issues, last year’s car, and you started to lose downforce.
“Those things don’t happen this year as much and I think when you put it all together it became a car that is much more consistent to drive and that is probably what is helping me the most. It is what you always try to look for. That you can extract the most out of the car all the time.
“And I think you are going to feel that you do laps and you can extract the most out of what you are driving. And last year was very tricky to put it all together in one lap to extract the maximum out of the car with the set-up, with the driving side.
“This year, it shows that you can do it a lot more. I think that is also part of the performance gain that we have. Apart from the competitiveness of the car, of course.”
