Headline: “Hold what?” Colapinto disobeys Alpine team orders in Austin — and lights a fuse inside Enstone
Alpine didn’t leave Austin with points, but it did leave with a headache. With three laps to run at the United States Grand Prix, Franco Colapinto ignored a clear “hold position” call and lunged past team-mate Pierre Gasly into Turn 1 — a bold move for 17th place that’s now triggered an internal review.
The instruction was unambiguous. As the final stint settled into a drab parade outside the top ten, Colapinto’s engineer called for both cars to stay put. The 22-year-old’s reply, over team radio, was as blunt as the pass that followed: “Hold what? He’s slow.”
Moments later, Colapinto sent it down the inside of Gasly at Turn 1, the pair skating close enough to trade paint without touching. The move stuck; the fallout began.
Team orders turns into an intra-team battle! ⚔️👀
Franco Colapinto passes Pierre Gasly with an audacious overtake on his team mate 🔀#F1#USGPpic.twitter.com/ZKxR4TOPjX
— Formula 1 (@F1)October 20, 2025
Colapinto defended the call post‑race, pointing to pace and peril from behind. “We had quite a bit more speed than Pierre in the last stint and Bortoleto was all over me,” he said. “It was holding me up with how slow Pierre was going. I felt it was better for the situation to have me in front, otherwise we were going to get both overtaken.”
He also noted Alpine has allowed their drivers to race at times this year. “We’ve swapped positions a lot of times and they let us race on other tracks,” he added. “This time, with the pressure from behind, it made sense to switch. We’ll go through the data.”
Inside the garage, that line won’t cut much ice. Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen, speaking to media, made the team’s stance plain: pit-wall instructions aren’t a debate. “Any instruction from the pit wall is final and today we’re disappointed that didn’t happen,” he said. “It’s something we’ll review and deal with internally.”
That review comes at an awkward moment for Alpine and for Colapinto. The Argentine is driving for his future as the team shapes its 2026 line‑up. The mood music from Enstone suggests the shortlist is an in‑house affair, with Colapinto in the frame alongside the likes of Jack Doohan and Paul Aron. Whether Sunday counts as a black mark or a statement piece is a very Alpine question.
There’s a philosophical split at the heart of this. For the engineers, a no‑risk run to the flag is the right play when you’re out of the points. For a young driver in an evaluation year, meekly shadowing your team-mate to P18 is a different kind of risk — the one where nobody notices you. Colapinto chose the racer’s answer, and it came with elbows.
The intrigue, inevitably, loops back to Alpine’s leadership. Flavio Briatore’s influence has been felt more sharply this season, and the old-school boss has always had a soft spot for drivers who show needle when the moment arrives. That doesn’t override a chain of command — and it won’t soothe Gasly, who saw a late stint get rowdier than it needed to be — but it does complicate the politics.
Strip away the theatrics and the sporting cost was small. Alpine were marooned outside the points at Circuit of the Americas, Gasly and Colapinto circulating in the lower midfield with Gabriel Bortoleto closing. The pass changed a number on the timing screen; it didn’t change the scoreboard. What it might change is the internal temperature.
Two things can be true at once: Colapinto had more grip and more urgency, and Alpine had every right to park the risk with a team order. The driver chose momentum. The team wanted compliance. Somewhere between those positions lives the decision on his 2026 fate.
The next races will tell us who blinked. If Enstone tightens the reins and the radios go sterner, Sunday will be logged under “lesson learned.” If Alpine leaves a little more slack in the rope, it might be because, in a season where results have been thin, a flash of fire has some value.
For now, the only certainty is this: on a day without points, Alpine still found something to fight over. And everyone noticed.
