Pirelli wash their hands of responsibility after huge Franco Colapinto crash
Franco Colapinto
Pirelli has made it clear that their F1 2026 tyre compounds had nothing to do with Franco Colapinto’s crash.
The Alpine driver suffered what looked to be a heavy shunt at the Hungaroring on Wednesday. He was cleared after checks at the medical centre and Pirelli has shed any responsibility for the incident.
Pirelli tyres not to blame for Franco Colapinto crash
Colapinto hit the wall at the Hungaroring’s high-speed Turn 11 on Wednesday. The Argentine had been at the wheel of the Alpine A525, testing Pirelli’s F1 2026 tyre compounds. McLaren, Ferrari and Racing Bulls also stayed on for the test following the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Earlier today Franco Colapinto had a heavy crash at the Hungaroring during the Pirelli tyre test, but the team confirmed that he was checked at the trackside medical centre and is fine! 🙏#F1 #Formula1 #FrancoColapinto pic.twitter.com/AsDld8Hlct
— Extreme Cars (@extremecars__) August 6, 2025
Colapinto was fortunately unhurt by the accident, which was addressed in an Alpine team statement.
The statement read: “During Day 2 of Pirelli Tyre Testing at the Hungaroring this morning, Franco Colapinto had an incident at Turn 11.
“Franco was assessed on site at the medical centre and is OK.”
While the crash occurred while Colapinto was running the Pirelli prototype F1 2026 tyres, the firm has moved to clarify that there was no connection.
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As part of sweeping chassis and engine changes for F1 2026, the Pirelli tyres will also become 25 millimeters thinner at the front and 30mm for the rears.
“These have been two useful days for making progress with the development of our compounds for next season, given that we are now entering the home straight,” said Pirelli’s motorsport boss Mario Isola.
“The Hungaroring is a demanding track due to its many slow curves and the amount of energy that goes into the tyres on a lap that is rather short. This makes it a challenging place to test tyres, in particular for the compounds that will be central to the 2026 range – which will go from C1 to C6 like this year.
“We have collected a lot of data, although it was a pity that we lost some of our potential mileage today when Colapinto went off the track, even though this was not in any way linked to the tyres.
“As for construction, we have verified our final solutions as far as homologation is concerned, ahead of the regulations coming on September 1. By contrast we now have three further test sessions – in Monza, Mugello and Mexico City – to conclude the development of the compounds, whose homologation is due on December 15.”
