The Hungary GP Start of F1
Franco Colapinto finished in 18th place at the Formula 1 Hungary Grand Prix, marking a challenging race for the young Argentine driver. A series of strategic missteps by his team, Alpine, made it a difficult outing. During two pit stops, Colapinto lost over 14 seconds, causing him to drop back to the last position on the track. Fortunately, an early retirement from another competitor and a penalty for his teammate allowed him to ultimately finish 18th.
At the Hungaroring Autodrome, Colapinto started from 14th with a set of used tires but quickly fell to 18th. While he had a decent start, he lost four positions during the second corner due to an overly wide turn. Meanwhile, his teammate Pierre Gasly also struggled, dropping from 17th to 19th.
Where Colapinto Lost the Four Positions
In lap 14, Colapinto became the first driver to dive into the pits. Unfortunately, the Alpine team mismanaged the stop, taking an extended 7 seconds to switch tires, which set him back to the last position. After rejoining the race, he exclaimed, “My God” upon realizing the significant setback he faced.
Despite the rough start, Colapinto gained two positions due to subsequent pit stops from Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull), and Oliver Bearman (Haas), clawing his way up to 15th place. His second stop came on lap 37, and much like the first, it was slow, taking 7.2 seconds once again, during which he was fitted with hard tires that required longer to reach optimal grip.
Despite being able to advance due to Bearman’s retirement, issues during his pit stops continued to plague Colapinto. It was especially disappointing as the Pilar native had shown promise in Saturday’s qualifying, successfully reaching Q2 while outperforming his teammate Gasly, who didn’t make it past Q1.
The failures of Alpine resulted in Colapinto being unable to achieve his best possible result, ultimately ending in 18th place after Gasly incurred a 10-second penalty for making contact with Carlos Sainz (Williams). This somewhat salvaged the race for Franco, as it meant he finished ahead of Gasly. This was especially disheartening after his promising debut at the last race, where he had to retire due to a transmission issue in his A525.
Colapinto found some momentum during the race, clocking his fastest lap at 1m20s.826, which was quicker than Gasly’s 1m21s.433, despite having to make two pit stops compared to Gasly’s one. The stark contrast in efficiency between Alpine and their rival McLaren was evident, as the latter achieved the fastest pit stop of the season at just 1.9 seconds.
Colapinto has continued to show growth throughout the season. His performance in the race was faster than that of Gasly, who has extensive experience with 167 Grands Prix under his belt. As the summer break approaches, Colapinto will not be taking a break. He is set to test Pirelli’s 2026 tires alongside Gasly at the Hungaroring this week. He will later be at Alpine’s headquarters in Enstone to prepare for the upcoming races in the Netherlands (August 31) and Monza, Italy, where he made his Formula 1 debut last year driving the Williams FW 46.