Alpine “disappointed” in Franco Colapinto as US GP team orders saga explained

Alpine were left unimpressed by Franco Colapinto’s decision to ignore team orders at the 2025 F1 United States Grand Prix.

Colapinto was ordered to stay behind teammate Pierre Gasly as the two Alpines ran in 16th and 17th.

After being instructed not to attack his teammate, Colapinto replied: “Wait what?! Hold positions?! But he’s slow.”

Colapinto then overtook Gasly into Turn 1 with an aggressive manoeuvre.

Gasly was struggling for pace, having stopped very early for soft tyres on Lap 27.

This left him vulnerable, leading to the Alpine team order.

Giving his side of the story, Colapinto felt he had to attack Gasly because he had Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto in close proximity.

“At the end, I had slightly fresher tyres than Pierre and saw Gabriel [Bortoleto] attacking. I wanted to keep him behind both of us,” Colapinto told reporters in Austin.

Alpine will “review” team orders saga

Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen confirmed that the team would “review” and deal with the issue “internally.”

In the team’s press release, Nielsen said: “On Pierre’s side, we covered an undercut threat to box onto softs, a little earlier than we wanted, and then had a slow pitstop, which we will review and rectify,” Nielsen explained. “Franco was able to extend his medium run to have a tyre delta towards the end of the race where he caught up to Pierre.

“We gave the instruction for the drivers to maintain position as we were managing fuel with both cars and the added variable of the number of laps remaining with the leaders in close proximity.

“As a team, any instruction made by the pit wall is final and today we are disappointed that this didn’t happen, so it’s something we will review and deal with internally.”

Colapinto continues to fight for his F1 future. His form has picked up in recent rounds, out-qualifying Gasly in four of the last five races.

Colapinto’s performances haven’t been rewarded with a points finish amid Alpine’s lack of in-season development.

Alpine languish at the bottom of the constructors’ championship, with their focus on the new rules for 2026.

Colapinto has yet to secure a drive for next year.

Flavio Briatore has hinted Gasly’s teammate will either be Colapinto or Paul Aron, who is part of their junior programme.

Briatore has ruled out an approach for Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson.

Tsunoda and Lawson are also fighting for their Red Bull futures, with Tsunoda set to be replaced by Isack Hadjar for 2026.