Latest news with #Colapinto
Newsweek
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Newsweek
Franco Colapinto Gets Alpine F1 Future Clarity After Shaky Start
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. There is another twist in the Franco Colapinto saga - Alpine is reportedly keeping him on the team for the remainder of the season. Colapinto's shaky start in the Alpine seat has raised questions about his future, particularly since senior advisor Flavio Briatore appears non-committal to the Argentine's future. Those doubts are quelled for the time being as Renault Argentina CEO Pablo Sibilla answered a question about Colapinto's future. An Argentine broadcaster asked if Colapinto's seat is secure for more than a couple of races. Franco Colapinto of Argentina and Alpine F1 looks on in the Pitlane during the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 06, 2025 in Northampton, England. Franco Colapinto of Argentina and Alpine F1 looks on in the Pitlane during the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 06, 2025 in Northampton, England. Photo by"Yes, end of year," Sibilla responded. Sibilla's statement comes during an uncertain period for Colapinto. Rumors suggest he could be replaced for the Belgian Grand Prix, but he appears calm when speaking to the media at Silverstone. "I'm not very concerned," he said. "Of course, there is always talks. I just need to keep working and trying to help the team to improve the car." Colapinto replaced Australian Jack Doohan for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, but he is yet to score points and has made it out of Q2 just once in his first six races. Also, an alarming trend from his time at Williams is carrying over to Alpine - Colapinto is having incidents on track, which are setting him back further. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Briatore began doubting Colapinto in public. "If Colapinto is performing, he's driving the car. If not, we'll see - 2025 is a year we need to prepare ourselves for 2026," Briatore said. "So whatever experiment I need doing, we're doing. I don't know if Franco will stay for the season, but let's see. Depends on the performance. "We're only looking at the performance - nothing else." In fairness to Colapinto, he has battled technical issues in the car and rough luck, which hampered him in races. He didn't even start the British Grand Prix due to one of these issues - fully capturing the rough luck and poor performances this season. If Sibilla is correct and the Argentine stays in the Alpine, Colapinto must perform and impress the demanding Briatore. Some of his luck should eventually start to turn, but he must get to grips with the car or risk getting replaced by Valtteri Bottas or Paul Aron. More F1 news: How Lewis Hamilton Made the F1 Movie Production More Expensive For more F1 news, head on over to Newsweek Sports.
Daily Mirror
10-07-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mirror
F1 star's dad fumes at critics in social media post after British GP trolling
Franco Colapinto is battling to save his Formula 1 career after a series of poor performances since replacing Jack Doohan at Alpine just six rounds into the season Franco Colapinto's father has hit back at social media trolls for targeting the under-pressure Alpine driver in the wake of his Silverstone nightmare. Colapinto, who impressed during his brief stint at Williams last season, replaced Jack Doohan in the Renault-owned team just six rounds in 2025. However, he is now under pressure himself after a string of underwhelming performances and crashes. Colapinto had a disastrous weekend at the British Grand Prix, crashing in Q1 and then starting the race from the pitlane. With the track wet but drying, he was among the drivers to gamble by pitting for slicks at the end of the formation lap. However, he failed to re-emerge from the pits due to what the team called a 'driveline' issue. It was unclear whether the car or Colapinto was to blame for the issue. The weekend came at the worst possible time for the 22-year-old, who could be replaced, with Alpine approaching Mercedes over the availability of vastly experienced reserve driver Valtteri Bottas. The Finn, a long-time teammate of Lewis Hamilton before being replaced by George Russell in 2022, is eager to get back into a race seat after being dropped by Sauber at the end of last season. He could get the chance at Alpine this season, potentially before the summer break, which begins after the Hungarian Grand Prix at the beginning of August. Given Colapinto's struggles, he has come in for stinging criticism from trolls on social media, prompting his dad, Anibal, to hit back. Colapinto Sr posted on Instagram: 'Don't feel bad when someone speaks ill of you. Remember that successful people are criticized by mediocre and envious people.' Adding to Colapinto's Silverstone frustration, he saw Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly take an excellent sixth place. The Argentine said: "I'm sad and frustrated for having ended the weekend like this, which had started well compared to Pierre, and I'm a bit sad about how it ended. 'It was a good race seeing everything that happened: the rain, tyre changes, and all the weather conditions that made the race changeable. 'I think during this weekend I was faster than Pierre and seeing where he is now finishing, maybe we had a good opportunity. We have to keep working focused on what's coming, but it's a shame not being able to even start. It makes me very angry. 'There were many opportunities. I would have loved to be in the race and try something. A bit of frustration for not even being able to start is something no driver wants.' It remains to be seen whether Colapinto will still be in the car when the F1 season resumes with the Belgium Grand Prix at Spa at the end of July.
The Drive
07-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Drive
Nico Hulkenberg's Underdog Story Is Exactly What F1 Needed
The latest car news, reviews, and features. Fifteen years, 239 lights out, and 42 retirements into his career, Nico Hulkenberg is a Formula 1 podium finisher. As sheets of rain coated the track surface and sprayed visors, the 37-year-old Kick Sauber driver managed to hold onto a third-place position at Sunday's 2025 British Grand Prix. And while the result obviously matters, it's how he scored it that is just as important. Getty/Anadolu If you had told Hulkenberg on Friday that he would be standing on a podium step listening to 'God Save the King' in two days' time, he probably would have laughed. He finished 17th in the second free practice session and 15th in the third. The team's junior driver, Paul Aron, stood in for Hulkenberg in FP1, meaning shortened track time for the No. 27 driver. Saturday's qualifying session didn't bode any better with him saying, 'Quite frankly, we just didn't have the pace to make it through.' Hulkenberg lined up in the 19th grid slot come Sunday's main event; last as Franco Colapinto's Alpine never left the pit lane. But in a rapid recovery drive in the wet, the German driver managed to crawl his way to the top of the leaderboard. By lap seven—after a handful of cars gave up their starting positions in favor of exchanging intermediate tires for slicks on a drying track and a series of rookies slid and crashed—Hulkenberg had secured 10th. That finishing position alone would have been one of his better races of the 2024 season. But he didn't stop there. As the skies opened and lap 14 brought out the safety car, a flash of neon green could be seen near the front of the field in fifth. Max Verstappen's spin on lap 21 allowed for Hulkenberg to clinch fourth, and 14 laps around the track later, he successfully picked off Lance Stroll to take third in a clean lunge forward. He managed to keep Lewis Hamilton, who was aiming to turn 15 Silverstone podiums into 16, and Verstappen at bay in fourth and fifth. Getty Going into the 2025 British Grand Prix weekend, there were clear podium contenders: It was a Ferrari vs. McLaren duel, with a slight chance of Mercedes entering the mix. Hamilton snatched the top spot in the first free practice session of the weekend, his teammate Leclerc went fastest in FP3, and Lando Norris, who won the race, slipped ahead to take FP2. Even as Verstappen's Red Bull showed the unpredictable was possible after a pearl-clutching qualifying lap placed him comfortably on pole, a splash of chartreuse up front wasn't in the cards. While Hulkenberg's race involved a whole lot of luck, it was his patience that paid off, paired with a certain brand of scrappy racing resilience. It was the kind of back-of-the-pack turned podium performance that, like any good underdog story, reminds fans why they fell in love with racing in the first place. Sometimes it's really easy not to be romantic about racing, especially in eras where teams with massive talent pools and budgets dominate the competition. Halfway through the season, weekends can often feel like a drag of laps that blur together into one string of speed. But other times, you sit back, slack-jawed, and ask: 'How can you not be romantic about 20 cars driving in odd shapes?' Sunday was one of those days. Despite a title battle, this season hasn't provided too many starry-eyed moments. A 37-year-old racing driver in an inferior car holding up a third-place trophy is enough to get the waterworks going—even if that trophy is made of Lego bricks. Getty/MI News Although entering the sport through a traditional route, he's had a not-so-traditional career while in the motorsport series: competing for eight teams since 2010, snagging pole position in his rookie year, and winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving for Porsche in 2015. Despite proving himself as a racer's racer, Hulkenberg holds some of the less-than-desirable stats in the sport, including the second-most points without a win and the most starts without a win. But he's also shown serious pace this season. He's scored more points (31) than both Red Bulls (29) in the last four races. Hulkenberg pulled out a cinematic moment that rivaled the F1: The Movie storyline and might just prove to movie-turned-grand prix converts that the sport is also capable of tiny, magical moments. Waiting 15 years for those moments—or seeing a recovery drive in the wet once a season—only makes them that much sweeter. Hulkenberg, exhausted and smiling, summed it up nicely: 'One of the best days of my career.' Got a tip? Email us at tips@
CNA
06-07-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Hulkenberg rids himself of unwanted record at the 239th attempt
SILVERSTONE, England :Nico Hulkenberg provided Formula One's feel-good story of the day, and possibly the season, at the British Grand Prix and nobody was more surprised and delighted than the 37-year-old German. After 15 years, and at the 239th attempt, the Sauber driver finally shrugged off the unwanted record of the most race starts without ever standing on the podium - and replaced it with the most starts until a first podium. "I don't think I can comprehend what we've just done," he said over the team radio after taking third place. Hulkenberg did it in fairytale fashion, following a script that even the producers of the recently-released Brad Pitt blockbuster F1 movie would probably have rejected as too implausible. He started last on the grid, in 19th place with Alpine's Franco Colapinto lining up in the pitlane, for Swiss-based Sauber. Thanks to clever strategy and pitting at absolutely the right time, Hulkenberg took Sauber to their first podium in 13 years and also became the team's all-time lowest-starting top-three finisher. "It feels good. It's been a long time coming, hasn't it?," said Hulkenberg, rather stating the obvious, after tumultuous pitlane celebrations. "I always knew we have it in us, I had it in me somewhere... it's pretty surreal, to be honest. Not sure how it all happened, but obviously crazy conditions, mixed conditions. It was a survival fight for a lot of the race. "I think we just were really on it. The right calls, the right tyres, at the right moment. Made no mistakes and, yeah, quite incredible." With nine-times British GP winner Lewis Hamilton in fourth place for Ferrari, it had seemed inevitable that Hulkenberg would be reeled in and his day would end yet again as a story of what might have been. Instead it became a tale of triumph against the odds for a future works Audi team on the up and now riding high in sixth place overall. "I think I was in denial until probably the last pit stop, you know, and then when I heard we gapped Lewis quite a bit with the one extra lap, I was like, 'Okay, this is good, this is some breathing space'," said Hulkenberg. "It was an intense race but like I said, we didn't crack. No mistakes. And obviously really, really happy with that." Team boss Jonathan Wheatley, an F1 veteran who joined from Red Bull this season, piled on the superlatives. "I think he was almost in a state of shock when I saw him under the podium," he said. "Nico drove an outstanding race today. One of the best I've seen at Silverstone and one of the best I've seen of any driver ever.
Newsweek
05-07-2025
- Automotive
- Newsweek
Franco Colapinto Suffers Major British GP Qualifying Setback
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Alpine driver Franco Colapinto faced a major setback during Q1 of the British Grand Prix qualifying session at Silverstone. The Argentine driver spun out at high speed, causing him to slide into the gravel and clip the barriers. Colapinto lost the rear of his Alpine A525 F1. Restarting the car, he then had to pull over at the pit exit, triggering a red flag when there were 6:49 minutes to go. He said on the radio, "I lost the rears," when interim team principal Flavio Briatore was seen covering his face with his hands. Qualifying in 20th place for Sunday's race, here's what Colapinto said after ending his run: "Yeah, I just lost the rear in the last corner, and I clipped the wall. Franco Colapinto of Argentina driving the (43) Alpine A525 on track spins during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 5, 2025 in Northampton, United Kingdom. Franco Colapinto of Argentina driving the (43) Alpine A525 on track spins during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 5, 2025 in Northampton, United Kingdom."I'm still struggling. So, a bit of a pity. We started running a lot with the car to improve a bit. "We found a lot of things. I think we can work to make me feel a bit better with the car, closer to Pierre. But of course, we are still far, so we need to do a couple of steps for the next races." When asked if the tricky weather conditions led to the incident, Colapinto said: "There was quite a bit of rain from Turn 15 onwards, and I think that made it a bit... yeah, I don't really know. I didn't see, I just went." He added: "I think I just went on the curb and then the rear... maybe it was a bit— I don't really know. I have to watch." Given his performance concerns in the recent races, he was asked if there were concerns about not being in the car for the next race at Spa Francorchamps. Colapinto said: "I'm not very concerned. Of course, there are always talks, but I just need to keep working and trying to get the team to improve the car. Today was not ideal. We made some good steps." When asked about the setup on his car, the Alpine driver said: "It works with... now, I don't really know at the moment if it's going to work in the race. We'll try to, of course, make some steps forward for the race tomorrow and try to make something happen." Colapinto was the only driver to have spun out during qualifying. Max Verstappen went on to secure pole position for the British Grand Prix, followed by McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in P2 and P3.
