Sam Bird says Franco Colapinto’s Alpine future is in doubt after being ‘slaughtered’ by Pierre Gasly

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Franco Colapinto’s future at Alpine is being questioned after a ‘disastrous’ Sprint Qualifying session at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The first Sprint Qualifying session of the 2026 Formula 1 season saw Mercedes dominate the headlines once again as they locked out the front row of the grid.

However, further down the order, Pierre Gasly in the Alpine caught some eyes as he qualified in seventh place, whereas his teammate, Franco Colapinto, was down in 16th place and was knocked out in SQ2.

After failing to score points again in the opening race of the 2026 season and being outqualified in China, many believe that the pressure is on Colapinto to keep his seat at Alpine.

Mercedes boast a 0.621s lead over McLaren atop the SQ3 timesheets after Sprint Qualifying in China

Who was your star of Sprint Qualifying in Shanghai?

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Franco Colapinto has been ‘disastrous’ at Alpine

During the BBC’s radio coverage of the Formula 1 Sprint Qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix, Formula E driver Sam Bird discussed Colapinto’s poor performance.

He highlighted that Flavio Briatore wants a second driver who can be competitive and match Gasly in 2026. Currently, Colapinto is not at that level as he is being ‘slaughtered’ by his teammate in the opening rounds of the season.

Bird said, “I worry for his seat. We are only in Sprint Qualifying of Round Two of the World Championship, but he had a disastrous year last year, really disastrous.

“When he came into the Williams, everyone thought, ‘Wow, what a breath of fresh air this guy is, this new Argentinian, he is great, he is going to do big things.’

“He did not do much in F2; he did a really super job when he came into Williams, but last year was bad, really bad. It has started again. He is getting slaughtered by Gasly. How long until the top brass at Alpine decides to put someone else in that seat?

“Because from what we have seen on Netflix, and things like that, they want a driver to be as quick as Gasly, and he is not doing that.”

Is Flavio Briatore’s target for Alpine in 2026 realistic or too ambitious?

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Franco Colapinto is the driver under the most pressure

Heading into the season it was already obvious that Colapinto was the driver that had the most pressure on him for the early stages of the year.

After failing to score a point during his 2025 campaign with Alpine, he needed to match Gasly in 2026 after serious levels of development had been put into the 2026 car.

Ahead of the season, Nate Saunders had already identified that Colapinto ‘is under the most pressure. If he starts off badly.’

Flavio Briatore had already made a very ominous statement before the start of the season at the Alpine launch event, as Briatore said there are ‘no more excuses’ for the 2026 season.