F1 team boss speaks out on future of at-risk star

Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto and Oscar Piastri address the F1 media from a sofa — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

F1 team boss speaks out on future of at-risk star

Could a mid-season axe be on the cards?

Chris Deeley

Thursday 8 January 2026 13:55

Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen has opened up on Franco Colapinto's future with the F1 team, after an unsuccessful first season.

The Argentine jumped into the team's second car when Jack Doohan was removed just six races into the season, but failed to score a single point in the remaining 18 races of the year.

That underwhelming performance has had some questioning his future in the sport, especially after he crashed heavily five times in his nine-race audition with Williams in 2024.

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He had showed impressive pace in that handful of races, but unforced errors in Baku (where he would crash again in 2025), Sao Paulo (twice) and Las Vegas put serious pressure on his mechanics, and raised some questions about his future in the sport.

The young Argentine finished all 17 grands prix he started in 2025, a stat which looks better when not including qualifying crashes in Qatar and at Silverstone, a crash in a mid-season Pirelli test and a bizarre weather-driven one at Interlagos in the sprint race.

Alpine boss: We need two point-scoring drivers

Asked after the season about his young driver's future, Nielsen said: “Franco is a young driver. We’ve seen other young drivers go through good and difficult periods – he’s on that journey.

“There were races earlier in the year when he was a match for Pierre, and on a couple of occasions maybe even faster than Pierre in the races. He’s on that journey, and we’ll give him all the support he needs to be as quick as he can be, whether that’s faster than Pierre or close to Pierre.

“The important thing for us is to have two drivers scoring in the championship. We’ve suffered a bit this year: only one car scored points, and not enough with that one either, while the other car scored zero points with two different drivers in it.

“We need stability in the second car, and we need to give time for that talent to mature and deliver points for us. You need two drivers.”

When pressed for a more definitive stance, he added: “I think the brutal reality is that our car was not fast enough to score points.

“I think both drivers we have now are better than the car. On the few occasions when the car has been good enough to fight around the points, we had one in Brazil, where Pierre qualified reasonably well and raced reasonably well, and another in Vegas where we were okay.

“When the car is good, both drivers are more than capable of delivering what the car allows. We need to make a much better car, a much better car, and then we’ll see if the drivers are capable of going with it.”

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F1 Alpine Franco Colapinto