Pierre Gasly’s team radio suggests he is now feeling the ‘pressure’ amid Franco Colapinto form

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F1 commentator Nelson Valkenburg believes Pierre Gasly is now feeling the ‘pressure’ at Alpine amid Franco Colapinto’s fine form during recent Grands Prix.

Since making the switch to Mercedes power units for the 2026 F1 season, Alpine have made massive strides since their disastrous campaign last year that saw them finish at the bottom of the pile in the constructors’ standings.

What’s more, Franco Colapinto has been able to flex his skills a lot more with Alpine’s new package. After going the entirety of 2025 without a single point, he has already scored two points-paying results this year, and has impressed many inside the F1 paddock.

• READ MORE: Flavio Briatore has now changed his mind about Franco Colapinto’s future at Alpine

Pierre Gasly repeatedly asked if he was matching Franco Colapinto’s pace in Canada

In a recent episode of the Nailing the Apex podcast, F1 journalist Tim Hauraney and commentator Nelson Valkenburg were discussing Alpine’s current driver dynamic following Colapinto’s impressive performance last time out in Canada.

“If you look at the job that Colapinto has been doing over the last two weekends, he was great in Miami, but he was arguably better in Montreal,” Valkenburg said. “He had no practice, they sent him out on hard tyres in the cold.

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“After his first pit stop, he had a massive moment where he actually hit the wall. But that’s the only moment he had all weekend. He completely outpaced Gasly without practice.”

Alpine chief Flavio Briatore made headlines earlier this week when he admitted that they would wait for more light to be shed on Mercedes’ pursuit of Max Verstappen before locking in their lineup for 2027.

While some believe that may mean Colapinto’s future is in jeopardy, Valkenburg is actually under the impression that it was more aimed at Pierre Gasly rather than his younger teammate, due to the Frenchman’s team radio with the Alpine pit wall during the Canadian Grand Prix.

“On the face of it, if you say, ‘Alpine is just going to wait until they lock in their driver lineup,’ you’d say, ‘Well, they’re going to wait until they find someone better to replace Colapinto’,” he added.

“I don’t think it’s that easy at this point. I don’t think Colapinto is a sure thing to be a second driver, compared to Gasly. And Gasly is starting to feel that.

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“If you listen to his onboard radio in the last 15 laps of the Grand Prix last weekend, you can feel the pressure, you can feel the dismay there. Let’s just wait and see, because I know for certain that Colapinto is loving this new dynamic since he got the new chassis.”

During the final stages of the race weekend in Montreal, Gasly repeatedly asked his race engineer to keep updating him on whether or not he was matching Colapinto’s pace.

The Argentine finished in a career-best P6 at the chequered flag, while Gasly could only muster P8.