Alpine driver Franco Colapinto is the only person on the Formula 1 grid who doesn’t have a contract until the end of the season.
When Alpine decided to replace Jack Doohan after six races, they brought in reserve driver Franco Colapinto on a race-by-race deal.
Doohan would have felt very hard done by, as Colapinto’s arrival on a long-term loan from Williams before the season even started suggested that the Australian might not be destined to survive.
The 22-year-old failed to score a point during his stint in the car, and Colapinto was initially announced on a five-race contract.
Flavio Briatore was very positive about Colapinto’s initial outings, before a crash in qualifying at Imola set the tone for the next seven races.
Colapinto is coming under increasing pressure at Alpine, with the likes of Valtteri Bottas and Paul Aron being lined up to potentially replace him.
The Hungarian Grand Prix could be a very important weekend for the Argentine, as it’s his last chance to impress before the summer break.
Journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm has explained why Alpine now have a ‘bigger problem’ with Colapinto than just the fact he’s slower than teammate Pierre Gasly.
Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Alpine have a ‘bigger problem’ with Franco Colapinto’s errors than his raw speed
Mitchell-Malm was asked about Colapinto’s future on The Race F1 Podcast and explained: “I do think Colapinto in recent races has started to look a bit more promising.
“It hasn’t always played out exactly as he or Alpine would have wanted. Alpine were quite happy with the fact that he has turned a corner in terms of the sort of peak pace he’s now capable of showing.
“He’s also been a little bit closer to that average gap that Doohan had. So you’re looking at around two to three tenths to Gasly, which may still not be enough.
“Gasly is not necessarily an absolute A-list driver. But we know that when he’s at his very best, he’s fantastic in the midfield.
“I think what’s a bigger problem than actually the pace at the moment, because I think he was only a couple of tenths off at Spa, Silverstone, before that he was actually putting together a good weekend until a very, very regrettable and unnecessary spin that ended his qualifying early.
“And it’s those errors that he needs to cut out because the gaps have been becoming more respectable.
“Yes, the backing helps. And some of it might not be completely obvious in terms of a bunch of new sponsors or anything like that.
“But Alpine, there are financial benefits to having Colapinto in the car, sometimes just in a more roundabout way.
“But I think they know that, having jettisoned Doohan, they kind of need to make Colapinto work. And I think that, as well as the funding, is what’s going to buy him a bit more time.”
Franco Colapinto admits he’s lacking confidence ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix
After Colapinto’s crash during qualifying at Imola, he then suffered technical issues at the Spanish Grand Prix and Silverstone that impacted his race weekend.
His mistake at the British Grand Prix in Q1 also cost Alpine, as he spun off and hit the barriers, while he had generally been too far off the pace in practice at every race weekend.
Speaking in his official press conference ahead of the race at the Hungaroring, Colapinto said: “I said since the start that I’m lacking confidence in the car and that I’m not finding my feet in some corners.
“I’m struggling to be able to turn in and to come into the corners, and that’s just not really giving me much confidence.
“I didn’t have this issue last year. I could go straight in and be quick straight away and straightforward, and now I’m struggling a bit more with that. That’s the reality.”
It’s more important than ever that Colapinto has a clean weekend and tries to get off the mark and help Gasly shift Alpine off the bottom of the constructors’ championship.
