AUGUST 27, 2026

Colapinto earns another year at Alpine

Alpine has ended one strand of the 2027 driver-market speculation by retaining Franco Colapinto alongside Pierre Gasly.

Alpine has decided that the answer to its 2027 driver question was already sitting in the other side of the garage.

The team has confirmed that Franco Colapinto will remain alongside Pierre Gasly next season, giving the Enstone operation an unchanged line-up as it moves into its new title-partnership era with Gucci.

It is a reward for progress rather than a leap of faith. Colapinto's first months with Alpine in 2025 were untidy, which was hardly surprising given that he arrived part-way through the season, in a difficult car, with the usual Formula 1 expectation that a newcomer should learn everything by Thursday lunchtime.

Retaining him for 2026 brought more stability and better results. Colapinto has looked increasingly comfortable with the current regulations, produced his best Formula 1 finish with sixth place in Canada and out-qualified Gasly often enough to show that he belongs in the conversation.

The 23-year-old said he was happy to continue and pointed to the team's improvement since last season. His stated long-term objective is not merely to remain on the grid, but to help Alpine return to competing for victories.

Alpine's decision is also a practical one. Colapinto knows the people, the systems and the Mercedes-powered car, while Gasly provides the established reference on the other side. Changing one of them would have meant buying uncertainty when the team already has plenty of development work to do.

There are commercial advantages in keeping an Argentine driver with a large and enthusiastic following, but money and flags do not make a car go faster. Colapinto's 2026 performances have given Alpine a sporting case for making the simpler choice.

The announcement removes another potential seat from a driver market that is rapidly becoming more crowded than the Monza paddock on Thursday. Drivers waiting outside Formula 1, and those hoping to return, now have one fewer door on which to knock.

For Colapinto, the important change is that he no longer has to race each weekend with a contract discussion sitting in the cockpit beside him. Alpine has given him time. The next task is to make the decision look obvious.