The Dutch Grand Prix left a bittersweet taste for Alpine. While Pierre Gasly managed to score points with his 10th place, Franco Colapinto quickly lost his chances to fight for top positions due to a penalty he received after the first lap.
The Argentine had a good start and advanced to tenth place, but got involved in a maneuver with Yuki Tsunoda just as the yellow flags appeared after Max Verstappen's heavy crash. The stewards deemed that the driver from Pilar had not properly complied with the neutralization conditions and imposed a Drive Through penalty, along with two points on his super license. Later, he received another point for a second infraction for not reducing speed sufficiently under another yellow flag.
In this context, Flavio Briatore, executive advisor of Alpine, considered that the penalty completely affected the Argentine's performance. "Franco's race was practically over from the start after a severe and harsh stop-and-go penalty", the Italian stated.
Nevertheless, Briatore avoided questioning the basis of the rules and emphasized that the team must take what happened as a learning experience for the future. "While we know it is disappointing for him, we recognize that these rules are implemented for safety reasons and it is something we must learn from", he noted.
Alpine's frustration was not limited to Colapinto's result. The team arrived in Zandvoort with a significant package of updates for Gasly's car, who finished tenth in the race after also scoring in the Sprint. Despite this, Briatore acknowledged that they expected to achieve more from the weekend. "We leave Zandvoort a bit frustrated, although we gained two points over our direct rivals in the Championship, with Pierre scoring a point yesterday in the Sprint and today in the Grand Prix", he explained.
The Italian leader highlighted that the introduced improvements had a positive effect, although they still need time to fully understand them and extract their full potential. "We brought improvements for this race that clearly had an impact, but it is evident that we need to learn more about them and continue to incorporate performance to increase the gap in the Constructors' Championship, as Racing Bulls remains competitive and today Audi was exceptionally fast", he stated.
With the Zandvoort chapter closed, Alpine is already looking ahead to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The goal will be to continue developing the car and maintain the fight to improve their position in the championship, while Colapinto will seek to move past a weekend where an early penalty limited his chances to score.
When will Colapinto race again
After his challenging participation in Zandvoort, the Argentine, who will now have the upgrades on his A526 that Alpine developed during the summer break, will look to recover in the Italian Grand Prix. Activities at the iconic Italian circuit will start on Friday, September 4 with his first free practices and conclude on Sunday, September 6 with the main race.
Previously, the driver from Pilar had two races at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. The first was in 2024, in his debut as a full-time driver for Williams, where he finished 12th, while the second was last year, already with Alpine, where he crossed the finish line in 17th position.
