Franco Colapinto questions Race Control inconsistency after Safety Car ruins China race
Franco Colapinto was frustrated by what he felt was an inconsistent call from Race Control in China, scuppering his afternoon.
Colapinto salvaged a 10th-place finish in Shanghai, his first points finish since 2024, but the Argentine driver was still frustrated to have missed out on a better result.
Franco Colapinto criticises Race Control call after China Safety Car
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Colapinto started the Chinese Grand Prix on the hard tyre, opting for a long first stint, and this move paid off in the early stages as he rose to P6 in an Alpine vs. Haas fight as he and Pierre Gasly squabbled with Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon.
As the first car on track with the hard tyre compound, he climbed up to second place as others pitted following the early intervention of the Safety Car, but this interruption grouped up the pack and compromised Colapinto when the race restarted.
He ebbed backwards to P8 by the time of his pitstop on Lap 32, before a collision upon rejoining the track, triggered by an apologetic Ocon, meant he fell back down to 13th and was faced with a steep uphill challenge to get back into the points.
This he managed, despite floor damage compromising the outright pace of his A526, but, despite returning to the points for the first time since finishing 10th at the 2024 United States Grand Prix, he was left feeling like more was possible.
Adding to his frustration was what he felt was inconsistent decision-making, as the Safety Car was deployed in China to cover the breakdown of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, while only the Virtual Safety Car was used to cover the recovery of Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull breaking down in Melbourne.
“It’s frustrating, because I did a very good race,” said Colapinto after the chequered flag.
“I did a very good start on the hard tyre, I was in a really good position, the first car on the hard tyre, and our strategy went long and then yeah, I don’t know…
“In Melbourne, there was a VSC for everything: a car on fire and a VSC and, here, for the first car that stops on track, they put a Safety Car.
“I don’t really understand their logic around that, but it killed my race, really unlucky.
“I did my best to stay in front of the guys on the new hards to try and help Pierre, because my race was already kind of tricky to score.”
As for the incident with Ocon, for which the French driver immediately took to the team radio to admit culpability, Colapinto said he had no issues with how Ocon had responded.
“We stopped three laps after Esteban,” he said.
“I came out in front, I did really good laps on the old hard, and he hit me on the rear right. I had a big hole in the floor, which was not great for performance and not great for balance.
“He came back and said sorry, and it’s all good. We had a nice fight with each other during the race, really close and at the end it didn’t finish well, but he apologised. It’s all fine.”
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With Alpine scoring a double points finish, courtesy of Gasly finishing in sixth as Colapinto claimed 10th, the decision last year to cease development of the 2025 car in order to focus on the low-hanging fruit in the ’26 regulations appears to be paying off.
Gasly said he had no reason to doubt that such performances can’t be consistent going forward.
“Looking at ’25 where we were and where we are now, it’s a completely different league,” he said.
“So I’m very pleased. We did a good job in qualifying, a couple of tenths off McLaren on the first teams.
“I wasn’t losing massive ground compared to the Ferraris.
“There are still many, many little things which we need to fine-tune and fix, which are not like unfixable limitations.
“So I’m pretty confident. Hopefully, the performance will be quite similar to here in the coming races.”
Given the potential within the car, Colapinto said he’s pleased to be in a position where, despite being disappointed, it’s due to the net positives of the improvement in competitiveness this season.
“I think we need to keep working with the team. It was really tough with the medium, a lot of graining, not nice to drive the car, and it was just not as positive as it could have been,” he said.
“We should have recorded many more points than what we have today. That’s the annoying bit, when this opportunity slips away, it’s not nice.
“It’s a much better feeling. It’s very good to be disappointed by this. Just to end up behind slower cars, it’s not what you want.”
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