Franco Colapinto will drive for Alpine in 2027. The team confirmed the Argentine’s contract extension on Thursday, ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, locking in an unchanged line-up alongside Pierre Gasly for a third consecutive season and ending months of speculation that had at one point linked Fernando Alonso with a return to Enstone.
The decision rewards the most convincing stretch of Colapinto’s Formula 1 career. The 23-year-old sits 12th in the drivers’ championship with 19 points, built around a career-best sixth place at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal and seventh in Miami. Gasly has 44 points, and together they have Alpine sixth in the constructors’ standings on 63, three adrift of Racing Bulls.
Briatore backs continuity over a bigger name
Flavio Briatore has made no secret of his willingness to change drivers when he is unconvinced — Jack Doohan lasted six races in 2025 before Colapinto replaced him — which makes this endorsement carry weight.
“We are very happy to confirm our driver line-up for 2027 with Franco staying as a race driver,” Briatore said. “For me, having consistency is very important.”
The executive advisor was explicit that the call was based on what he has seen this season rather than on potential: “We have seen Franco truly grow and mature into a great driver this year. His results in Miami and Montréal especially confirmed what I already knew: Franco belongs in Formula 1 and he belongs at this team.”
Briatore also framed the announcement as clearing the decks for the bigger job. “We are now settled from a driver point of view and I have said many times that, while this is an important piece of the puzzle, the most significant we have to get right is designing and building a fast race car.”
Colapinto’s own response pointed to the difference between this year and last. “I am very pleased to remain with this team in 2027,” he said. “I feel very happy and very settled here, and it’s been even better that we have made significant progress this year compared to last.”
From nine-race super-sub to a settled seat
Colapinto’s route here has been unusually compressed. He arrived in F1 in 2024 as a mid-season replacement at Williams, scoring on debut in Azerbaijan with eighth place and impressing enough over nine races to become one of the most sought-after names on the market — without a full season to his name.
What followed was harder. He joined Alpine as reserve driver for 2025, then was promoted into the race seat after the Miami Grand Prix when Doohan was dropped. Parachuting into an uncompetitive car mid-season, with no testing rhythm and immediate scrutiny, produced a run of results that did little to settle the questions around him. Alpine kept him for 2026 anyway, and the stability has shown:
- Six points finishes from the opening 12 rounds of 2026
- A career-best sixth in Montreal, backed up by seventh in Miami
- 19 points, against a lifetime total in single figures before this year
The gap to Gasly — 44 points to 19 — is still the honest measure of where he stands. But it is the gap of a developing team-mate rather than a mismatch, and Gasly’s own deal, signed roughly a year ago and running to the end of 2028, means Colapinto has a fixed, experienced benchmark to be judged against.
What it means for Alpine and for 2027
Alpine’s season has drifted. A promising start under the reset regulations has been eroded by rivals developing faster, with Racing Bulls and Audi both gaining ground through the summer. Briatore’s point about the car, not the drivers, being the decisive variable is a fair reading of a team lying sixth with 63 points.
Continuity has a practical value in that context. Enstone has churned through drivers, technical leadership and ownership questions in recent years; going into 2027 with a known pairing removes one variable from a team that has too many. It also protects a commercial asset — Colapinto has delivered Alpine an enormous Argentine audience and the sponsorship that travels with it, a factor no team in the midfield can afford to treat as incidental.
For Colapinto, the extension converts a rescue mission into a career. He has now been given something he has never had in Formula 1: a seat he can plan around, with a full pre-season and a team-mate’s data to measure himself against. In 2027, the excuses run out.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
687 articles published
