‘Struggling’ Franco Colapinto pinpoints Alpine 2025 issue he never suffered with at Williams

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Franco Colapinto has outlined where he thinks he is struggling the most at Alpine that he never did at Williams.

Colapinto’s comeback on the grid became a question of when rather than if when it emerged that Jack Doohan was only on a six-race deal for the start of 2025.

Williams decided to release Colapinto from his agreement with the team for him to join Alpine, with him making his debut to replace Doohan at the Emilia Romagna GP.

After seven races and no points scored, with Alpine lying 10th in the Constructors’ Championship, Colapinto’s seat at Alpine now looks under threat.

Ahead of the Hungarian GP, the Argentine has been keen to point out that there is one thing he lacks when driving the Alpine that he never had while at Williams when speaking to Motorsport.com.

Franco Colapinto is lacking the same confidence in Alpine that he had at Williams

Colapinto was regularly scoring points while at Williams, slotting in at the team off the back of poor results for Logan Sargeant.

Although he had a few crashes, the commercial gain from sponsorship and his ability in qualifying sessions to extract potential from a car are what gained him attention.

But he has been a far cry this year due to Alpine’s difficult 2025 season, which has also impacted teammate Pierre Gasly.

“I said since the start that I’m lacking confidence in the car and that I’m not finding my feet in some corners,” said Colapinto.

“I’m like struggling to be able to turn in and to come into the corners and that’s just not really giving me much confidence.

“I didn’t have this issue last year. I could go straight in and be quick straight away and now I’m struggling a bit more with that. That’s the reality.”

Pierre Gasly offers bleak picture at Alpine for the rest of 2025

Alpine brought the final big upgrades to their car for the 2025 season at the Spanish GP, as they shift their focus towards the 2026 season.

With Alpine now 15 points away from Haas, it is looking increasingly like they will struggle to improve from last place in the Championship.

Gasly offered a bleak picture in the FIA Drivers’ Press Conference: “The reality of it is, this season, this is what we have. It’s going to be extremely difficult to change the position that we are in.”

“We’ve just haven’t been able to produce a car in a season where the midfield is extremely tight. With the sort of decisions we’ve made for 2026, we haven’t been able to provide enough performance to fight for better than that.”

The Frenchman is hopeful their decisions for the 2026 season will pay dividends by giving them a car that can fight for podiums. Former F1 sporting director Steve Nielsen is set to join them in September in an executive role, with him also focusing primarily on their car for next year.