Franco Colapinto’s honeymoon at Alpine is over—at least in Christian Danner’s book.
The former F1 racer-turned-analyst has labelled the Argentine a disappointment of 2025 so far, arguing Colapinto “doesn’t deliver anything tangible on the track.” Speaking to ran.de, Danner went further, saying the online reaction around the 22-year-old has become “very unpleasant,” while stressing that’s not Colapinto’s fault.
It’s a sharp turn in narrative for a driver who set pulses racing last season. Colapinto’s 2024 cameo with Williams yielded five points and serious buzz, enough that his name was briefly floated in the Red Bull rumour mill. Without a full-time place for 2025, he landed at Alpine as reserve—then was promoted to the race seat by Round 7 at Imola, replacing Jack Doohan.
Since then, it’s been a grind. Like Doohan before him, Colapinto is still chasing his first point in Alpine colours. The rookie errors have stung: a heavy qualifying crash at Imola and, more recently, a shunt during a Pirelli tyre test. In a season where Alpine needs clean weekends, every slip is magnified.
Danner lumped Colapinto into a broader list of early-season letdowns, citing Lewis Hamilton’s struggle to gel at Ferrari as his “most negative” surprise and also name-checking Yuki Tsunoda. But it’s the extra noise around Colapinto that he feels is complicating matters. “He has an extreme fan base from Argentina that is sensitive to criticism,” Danner said. “Any criticism brings with it a sh*tstorm… The fans are really extreme.”
The online temperature around Colapinto has already boiled over at times. Tsunoda said he’d been targeted by abuse from a subset of fans after an on-track flashpoint at Imola. Doohan, the driver Colapinto replaced, publicly called out fabricated posts that attempted to drag his father into the aftermath of Colapinto’s qualifying crash, stressing the circulating image was “clearly completely false.”
Colapinto, for his part, has tried to manage the situation, saying he’s focused on what he can control and has attempted to police over-the-top behaviour among followers. “They are very passionate… some are a bit aggressive. That’s the reality,” he told media earlier this season, adding that his job is to tune out the noise and drive.
The FIA has its own campaign running—United Against Online Abuse—to clamp down on harassment across the sport’s digital channels. It’s needed.
As for Alpine, the metric that matters is still lap time. Colapinto has raw pace and a 2024 highlight reel to prove it. The question now is whether he can cut out the rookie scrapes and start outscoring teammate Pierre Gasly when it counts. If he can, the Danner debate fades. If not, the pressure only grows louder.
