‘Slow burner’ Franco Colaptino able to compete with Pierre Gasly says Alpine chief
Franco Colapinto is under pressure to hang onto his Alpine seat.
Alpine’s Steve Nielsen has labelled Franco Colapinto a “slow burner” — but insists the young Argentine has what it takes to challenge team-mate Pierre Gasly in 2026.
The Argentine was the only full-time driver who failed to score a point last season and there were rumours he may not make it into the 2026 season.
Alpine chief backs Franco Colapinto for F1 2026 improvement
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Faith in Colapinto, or a lack of options, saw Alpine continue with the 22-year-old. But, of the 22 drivers on the 2026 grid, he is the one with the most pressure on his seat.
Despite this, Alpine’s Nielsen has backed Colapinto to have a better season and while admitting he did have a worse start than many anticipated, he believed the driver was a “slow burner” and could compete with his more experienced team-mate Gasly.
I think Franco is a talent, and I think that, you know, perhaps he’s a slow burner. Perhaps he’s developing more slowly than some of the others, but we saw him, yes, last year, produce some good races, particularly in comparison to Pierre, which, unfortunately, that was our only comparison for some races last year, because we were at the back. But no, I think, I think Franco will get better with time. We’re already seeing it, and if we’ve given him a better, better car, which I’m sure we have, then I think we’ll see the best of him.
One of the leading reasons why Nielsen feels that way is the change of regulations that has allowed Alpine to abandon the A525 which had “inherent problems” for the A526 which they hope will be much more competitive.
Nielsen suggested those “big handicaps” that held Colapinto down are now “fixed.”
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“It’s no secret, last year’s car had some inherent problems in it. We’ve absolutely fixed some of those with this car, which is great. Drivers can take a lot more kerb now. They’re not complaining about the ride, but I guess that’s because we’re not in the grandfather anymore. So some of those big handicaps are fixed. You know,”
As for Colapinto, he suggested the first pre-season of his F1 career will help him improve and ensure he hits the ground running.
“It really helps, I think, to arrive to race one with all this mileage,” he said during the Bahrain test. “It is very helpful that I’m much closer to what the other guys have been learning.
“And, of course, running, I think it’s already like eight races in terms of mileage. So it does help a lot. That’s something I’ve been missing the last year and the year before. So it’s a big step, and of course, it always helps.”
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