Colapinto set for P16 in Baku after Q1 shunt, Alpine builds spare chassis overnight
Franco Colapinto will take the start of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from 16th, Alpine having built up the team’s spare chassis overnight after the Argentine stuck his A525 in the Turn 4 wall at the end of Q1.
Colapinto had one lap left to drag himself clear of elimination when the session unraveled in a flash. Pierre Gasly shot up the escape road ahead in a near-synchronised mistake from the Alpine pair; Colapinto, a heartbeat later, snapped sideways on turn-in and went nose-first into the barrier.
“It’s always a distraction when someone goes off in the escape road and you don’t know if it’s going to reverse,” he said afterwards. “But yeah, that doesn’t change the fact I lost the rear really aggressively and I don’t really know the reason at the moment… It was very tricky, and probably a lot of wind there.”
He reckoned the gusts were doing the damage. “I guess it’s a lot of tailwind. I think it was something like 60kph, and when it hits you like that, it lifts the rear.”
The car came back with heavy front-left damage and enough concern for the team to switch him to the spare tub and fit a replacement gearbox. Alpine confirmed the change on Sunday morning and that Colapinto will still launch from P16.
It’s not the way he wanted to roll into a race he badly needs to turn into points. Colapinto has yet to score since stepping into the Alpine seat mid-season and, with the team’s senior adviser Flavio Briatore talking openly about candidates for 2026, the spotlight hasn’t exactly cooled. The 22-year-old sounded more frustrated than shaken — and keen to get on with it.
“So we need to focus on tomorrow,” he said, stressing there were gains hidden beneath the headlines. “There were some improvements… better lap times and more consistent during the day, and we found some better compromise for the low speed.”
That could matter here. Baku’s fickle mix — concrete canyons, long straights, and the sort of crosswinds that toy with rear wings — tends to punish brittle cars and reward those who keep their noses clean. From the eighth row, Colapinto’s path to the top ten will lean on a bit of chaos management: live for the restarts, nail the tow on the main straight, and don’t get dragged into someone else’s accident at Turn 1.
Alpine, for its part, has turned around a big overnight job without consequence to the grid order. The target now is straightforward: convert survival into opportunity. If the team’s low-speed traction tweaks stick and the tailwind eases, Colapinto’s Sunday could look a lot better than his Saturday.
He’ll need it. Ten starts in, the points column remains empty. Baku, usually generous with safety cars and second chances, might be his best shot yet to change the narrative.
