What's happened
Alpine has extended Franco Colapinto’s contract through 2028, keeping the Argentine driver alongside Pierre Gasly. Colapinto has earned a career-best sixth at the Canadian Grand Prix and sits on 19 points this season as Alpine solidifies its driver lineup amid a push to improve performance.
What's behind the headline?
What this means for Alpine and the F1 landscape
- Franco Colapinto has earned a long-term seat at Alpine, indicating the team’s confidence in his development and readiness to push for consistent points.
- The extension signals a continued partnership with Pierre Gasly, forming a stable driver lineup as the team concentrates on building a faster car amidst engine and powertrain strategy changes.
- Alpine’s progress this year, including mid-season competitiveness and a Canadian GP standout, places them in the midfield pack with a path to challenge for podiums, subject to car performance and regulatory dynamics.
Strategic angles
- The move reduces driver turnover risk in a year when several teams are reshaping lineups, potentially stabilizing performance and development momentum.
- The collaboration with Gasly remains central to Alpine’s plan; their combined experience is positioned to accelerate car development and racecraft in 2027.
- Engine strategy shifts (Mercedes customer engines) and the 2025 chassis decision reflect a broader reset that could pay dividends once the new rules fully converge by 2027.
How we got here
Colapinto, who debuted in F1 with Williams in 2024, joined Alpine as reserve in 2025 and moved into a race seat mid-2025 after Jack Doohan’s demotion. The extension comes as Alpine pivots away from its 2025 project and towards a performance-focused 2027 plan, aided by a switch to customer Mercedes engines and a strategic decision to abandon last year’s car program for the new chassis.
Our analysis
Independent, BBC Business, AP News report that Alpine has extended Colapinto’s contract through 2028 and that he will remain teamed with Gasly. The coverage highlights Colapinto’s career-best sixth at the Canadian Grand Prix and Alpine’s broader strategic moves, including the engine switch and 2025-to-2027 evolution. Quotes from Flavio Briatore and Colapinto underscore the confidence in the pairing and the focus on building a fast race car. See Independent: Briatore on consistency and growth; BBC Business: team’s priority on performance; AP News: contract extension confirmation and context.
Go deeper
- Will Colapinto’s extension shift Alpine’s development trajectory toward 2027?
- How might the Mercedes engine supply influence Alpine’s on-track performance next season?
More on these topics
-
Franco Colapinto - Argentina motorsports racing driver
Franco Alejandro Colapinto is an Argentine racing driver, currently competing in Formula One for Williams. Born and raised in Pilar, Colapinto began competitive kart racing aged nine, winning several regional and national championships.
-
Pierre Gasly - French racing driver
Pierre Gasly is a French racing driver, currently racing in Formula One for Scuderia AlphaTauri. He is the 2016 GP2 Series champion, and the runner-up in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series and the 2017 Super Formula Championship.
-
Jack Doohan - Australian racing driver (born 2003)
Jack Michael Doohan ( DOO-ən; born 20 January 2003) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 class for Nielsen Racing. He also serves as a reserve driver in Formula One for Haas. Doohan competed in Formula One at seven Grand Prix from 2024 to 2025. Born and raised in the city of Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan is the son of five-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion Mick Doohan. He began kart racing aged nine in a go-kart given to him by Michael Schumacher, winning multiple national titles. Graduating to junior formulae in 2018, Doohan started his career in the F4 British Championship. After finishing runner-up to Joey Alders in the 2019–20 F3 Asian Championship, Doohan moved to FIA Formula 3 in 2020, where he finished runner-up to Dennis Hauger the following season with Trident. Doohan then progressed to FIA Formula 2, achieving several wins in both his 2022 and 2023 campaigns with Virtuosi, and finishing third in the latter. A member of the Alpine Academy since 2022—previously a member of the Red Bull Junior Team—Doohan served as a reserve driver for Alpine in 2023 and 2024, debuting in Formula One at the latter Abu Dhabi Grand Prix...
-
Miami - City in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States
Miami is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the second-most populous city proper in Florida, with a population of 442,241 at the 2020 census. The Miami metropolitan area in South Florida has an estimated 6.39 million residents, ranking...
-
Montreal - City in Québec, Canada
Montreal is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city.
-
McLaren Group - Group of companies based in Woking, Surrey, England
The McLaren Group is a British conglomerate based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. Founded by Ron Dennis shortly after his acquisition of the McLaren Formula One team in 1981, it was originally named the TAG McLaren Group due to a partnership with Manso
-
Flavio Briatore - Italian businessman
Flavio Briatore (Italian: [ˈflaːvjo bri.aˈtoːre]; born 12 April 1950) is an Italian businessman, who serves as executive adviser and de facto team principal of Alpine in Formula One. As the longtime team principal of the colloquially known "Team Enstone" (Benetton Formula / Renault F1 Team), Briatore led the team to three World Constructors' Championship and four World Drivers' Championship victories. However, he was dogged by allegations of cheating, including the 1994 "Launch Control" controversy and the 2007 "Spygate" affair, although in both cases his teams escaped penalties. He was forced out of Renault and received a lifetime ban from F1 after the 2008 "Crashgate" scandal, although a French court subsequently overturned the ban. Fifteen years later, he returned to the Enstone team, which currently operates as Alpine F1. Briatore started his career as a restaurant manager and insurance salesman in Italy. He was convicted in Italy on several fraud charges in the 1980s, receiving two prison sentences, though the convictions were later extinguished by an amnesty. He spent several years as a fugitive in the Virgin Islands and the United States, where he set up several United Colors...