Franco Colapinto felt much better in second half of F1 2025 but the last few races were a downer, as he admits motivation was difficult to find.
After he got the chance at Alpine replacing Jack Doohan from Round 7 onward in F1 2025, things didn’t look good for Colapinto to be retained for 2026 season and beyond. The Argentine struggled to find any performance irrespective of the car not being as good for either of the drivers.
His main competition was Pierre Gasly and Colapinto was unable to match the Frenchman for most part. The Argentine pinned the difficulties to the front wing rule change which disrupted not just his rhythm but also the car’s. But as the season progressed, he started to find some pace.
In the second half, Colapinto felt much better and he was closer to Gasly as well. The last two weekends, though, hurt him again. “I think after the summer break was probably the strongest moment I felt with the car,” he said to media. “Then the last couple of races after Brazil, after the sprint race, started to be quite tricky to find myself comfortable in the car, I don’t exactly know the reason, but it was the kind of moment I started to feel I was struggling more and couldn’t feel confident with the car.
“I do believe that we worked really well with the team. Since the summer break we worked a lot better and that’s what made me the most happy. I think that I was feeling that we were finding new things and that we were understanding things of the car. And then of course this last part of the year, it was always going to be more difficult, but I do believe that next year it’s going to be better and that we worked really hard to understand some things that we did, get around them, and that’s to me the most important part and that I’m feeling better and better.
“It was good news, of course not ending with the best feeling is not what I wanted, but it’s part of F1 and lots to learn for next year that is pretty good,” summed up Colapinto, who when asked to expand on the difficulties, the Argentine relayed his struggles in mixed corners, somewhere in the middle. It was something he faced at the start of his stint with Alpine.
For handful of races, it vanished but it returned in the final couple of events which irked him. There was not much time to work around it and so, he went along to just see-through the year. “I struggled a bit more with the feeling of the car,” continued Colapinto. “I was not able to push in the same way in a few corners, not very high speed but corners that you combine a lot carry, a lot of lateral combining to the corners.
“I don’t feel that the car is staying there as much and it’s something that I felt much stronger before, that’s what I struggled a bit in the beginning of the year, then I felt much better and towards the end, I started to struggle again. It’s been a bit up and down and with some highs and lows through the year. So yeah, it’s just part of it and I think things to learn and to understand why.
“But it’s just a little bit tricky to understand in such a short time with not much time to go back in the sim and running and what this will do, what that will do and when it’s so straightforward it’s a bit more difficult but yeah, things to learn and again, good experience I think for next year,” summed up Colapinto, who admitted the lack of motivation sometimes considering that he would be at the far end of the field. However, the move to F1 2026 came at the right time to forget the past.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing and sometimes tricky to keep the motivation when it’s not going well,” said Colapinto. “But to be honest, I’m quite happy that the team kept pushing all the way until the end. And we tried our best, but we just didn’t really have the pace. Whenever I maximise the car, we were far off.
“So, yeah, I’m going to go back to factory and prepare next year that it should be a much better one. We were excited for next year since the beginning of this one. And now that it’s coming, it’s good news, not the easiest of endings now, but yeah, we have a lot of opportunity,” summed up Colapinto.
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