Alpine Pledges Support for Colapinto, Admits 2025 Car Was the Problem

Alpine is drawing a line under a turbulent 2025, declaring its full support for Franco Colapinto as the team shifts the blame for its struggles squarely onto its uncompetitive car. Managing director Steve Nielsen insists the young Argentine will be given time and resources to prove his talent in 2026, provided the team can deliver a machine worthy of his potential.

Why it matters:

For a works team with Alpine's ambitions, a prolonged stay at the back of the grid is untenable. The team's public commitment to a young driver and its honest self-assessment signal a strategic reset. Successfully developing Colapinto into a consistent points-scorer is crucial not just for his career, but for Alpine's long-term goal of returning to the front of the midfield and challenging for podiums.

The details:

• Nielsen views Colapinto's difficult debut season as a standard part of a young driver's development curve, emphasizing that the team has seen other promising talents go through similar peaks and valleys.
• Despite the poor results, internal data reportedly showed flashes of Colapinto's speed, with Nielsen noting, "There were races earlier in the year when he was a match for Pierre, and on a couple of occasions maybe even faster."
• A key failure for Alpine in 2025 was its inability to score points with both cars, a problem Nielsen is determined to fix. "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," he stated.
• Nielsen delivered a blunt assessment of the team's 2025 machinery, shifting the pressure from the drivers to the factory floor. "I think the brutal reality is that our car was not fast enough to score points," he conceded. "I think both drivers we have now are better than the car."
• The mandate for the 2026 season is unequivocal: "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."

What's next:

The onus is now on Alpine's factory in Enstone to deliver a competitive chassis for the new 2026 regulations. With a full pre-season testing program ahead, Colapinto will have the stable platform and consistent running he lacked in 2025. The team's leadership believes that if they can provide the machinery, both Colapinto and his teammate Pierre Gasly have the skill to deliver the results the team desperately needs to climb back up the Constructors' Championship.