F1 own goal as Franco Colapinto CUT from the 2026 drivers' championship

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F1 own goal as Franco Colapinto CUT from the 2026 drivers' championship

Poor Colapinto...

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 1 January 2026 18:56

F1 looked forward to the 2026 season in a recent social media post but forgot to include Alpine star Franco Colapinto.

Following a mixed debut with Williams in 2024, Colapinto was called up to Alpine after Jack Doohan's point-less opening six races with the team in 2025.

As the season progressed, however, it became particularly evident that Colapinto was unable to perform any better, and the Argentine emerged from the year as the only active driver to fail to score a single point.

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Nevertheless, Alpine have retained Colapinto alongside Pierre Gasly for the 2026, and will be hoping that a Mercedes powered engine will propel them back up the field next year.

Colapintwho?

While Colapinto will be grateful for another year to prove himself,F1 forgot that he was on the grid next year, after publishing a list of all the 2026 drivers on social media.

In a similar style to their timings graphic, F1 posted a picture of the complete list of 22 drivers in alphabetical order. Yet, there was no sign of Colapinto's name and instead there were two spaces occupied by Lance Stroll in an unfortunate mistake (we all make them).

F1 then deleted the error from their social media..

Colapinto will be hoping his name doesn't disappear from the official list again in 2026, with the young driver under pressure to deliver performances more akin to his team-mate Pierre Gasly.