Franco Colapinto suffers crash during Hungary F1 tyre test

Franco Coalpinto escaped unharmed from a crash during Pirelli F1 tyre testing at the Hungaroring.

Alpine confirmed in a short statement to media including Crash.net that Colapinto was “OK” after being assessed on site at the medical centre following an incident at Turn 11.

The French squad are taking part in Pirelli’s latest two-day tyre test centred on the development of the 2026 tyres along with McLaren and Racing Bulls.

After Paul Aron drove on Tuesday, it was Colapinto’s turn to get behind the wheel of the A525 on Wednesday.

But Colapinto’s programme has been cut short after he suffered an accident at the tricky Turn 11 right-hander.

Colapinto’s tough run continues

The under-pressure Colapinto endured a tough Hungarian Grand Prix as he started 14th but slipped to 18th in Sunday’s race.

Colapinto, who impressed last season as a Williams substitute, is yet to score points this year as speculation continues to swirl about his future.

“It was not the best of days today and a difficult race for us as a team,” Colapinto said. "The pace was good at times in clean air and I had the same feeling as yesterday, I think we have taken a good step forward with the car, which has given me confidence.

“But with the blue flags and losing time in the pitlane, it really limited what we could achieve today. The initial start and getaway was good, but from there we fell back on the first lap and lost places. I was struggling with rear grip and sliding, which came back to us later in the race.

“We opted for a two-stop and unfortunately, we encountered issues on both which meant we were held longer than we expected. As a team, we've been very good recently with pitstops, but these things happen in racing.”

The 22-year-old Argentine has failed to finish inside the top-10 since replacing Jack Doohan at Imola, while teammate Pierre Gasly has scored 13 points in the same time.

Ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Colapinto provided an explanation for his Alpine struggles.

“I’m not finding, sometimes, my feet in some corners,” he said.  “I'm struggling to be able to turn in and to come into the corners and that's just not really giving me much confidence. I didn't have this issue last year, I could go straight in and be quick straight away.

“Now I'm struggling a bit more with that and that's the reality. I don't have the confidence as I had maybe last year and that's a bit costly in F1.”