Franco Colapinto finished 2025 twentieth in the championship, without a point. Fourteen races into 2026 he has 27, and he is the only driver on the grid who has taken the chequered flag in every race.
The turnaround came with a new Alpine running Mercedes power units, and it came early: tenth in China, seventh in Miami, then sixth in Canada, the best result of his Formula 1 career. He has scored in eight of fourteen races, is twelfth in the championship, and his last two results, ninth at Monza and seventh in Madrid, are among his best of the year.
Every message he exchanged with his engineer on air this season, from the Canadian Grand Prix onward, is on



