How Franco Colapinto fared on his return to F1 with Alpine

Franco Colapinto ended up 16th among 18 classified finishers on his return to Formula 1 with Alpine in Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Colapinto had been keeping himself race sharp by driving old F1 cars under Alpine’s TPC (testing of previous cars programme), but this weekend marked the first time he completed a race weekend since he drove for Williams at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Colapinto took advantage of the three practice sessions to acclimatise to the A525, reducing his deficit to teammate Pierre Gasly to two tenths by FP3.

But there was drama in qualifying when he took too much kerb and crashed at the exit of Tamburello, terminating the session. Although he advanced into Q2, he was unable to take any further part in qualifying.

Starting 16th on Sunday, after a one-place grid drop, Colapinto lost a position to Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg before settling into a rhythm.

He entered the pitlane relatively early on lap 22, just six laps before the virtual safety car was deployed, allowing others to charge on him on fresher tyres which the race resumed.

Fending off the Haas of Oliver Bearman, he was seven seconds away from scoring points at the finish on lap 63.

Speaking after the race, the 21-year-old admitted that “he is not quite there” as he continued his re-adaptation to F1.

“We had good pace at the start of the race compared to the others,” Colapinto told F1’s website.

“I made the C5 – the medium – last very long, so we were on a one-stop and that VSC came just a few laps after I made my stop.

“It kind of just put me in a very difficult situation with already eight laps on the tyres and struggling a bit to keep up with the pace of the guys boxing for new tyres under the VSC.

“It was okay, it was more experience and good to learn the car a bit more.

“I think better tracks are coming for us, especially Monaco. It is a place which requires very high confidence.

“I’m not quite there yet, I’m still learning more and more each time I am in the car so I’ll build it up and I’m looking forward to it next weekend.”

No points for Gasly

Colapinto’s teammate Gasly qualified a strong 10th on the grid after making it to Q3, but his race was undone when he decided not to back off while battling with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for ninth place early in the race.

That left him wide over the gravel at Piratella and dropped him out of the points-scoring positions.

He ultimately finished in 13th position after his strategy was compromised by a late safety car triggered by a stoppage for Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

“First of all, I'm not happy with my race as I made that mistake which should not really happen,” Gasly said as he reflected on his Imola outing.

"I battled hard, I tried too hard and I thought I would be able to stick around the outside leaving some room for Charles on the inside but unfortunately when I turned in, I had no grip and couldn’t make the corner. That for sure made us drop four positions initially. 

"Then we revert or, let me say, we decided to go on a two-stop. It was looking decent, we would have been fighting the one-stopper at the end of the race. The late safety car gave them a free pit stop, so luck wasn’t really on our side.”