There are days when getting back in the car is as much about gesture as it is about sport. On Wednesday April 16, Franco Colapinto settled into the cockpit of the Alpine A526 at Silverstone and completed the 200 kilometres the regulations allow for a filming day. It was the second and final filming day of the season for the Enstone team, which had used the first on January 21 for the 2026 car’s track debut. But the context surrounding this second day turned every lap of the Argentine’s running into something more than a technical content session for sponsors.
Three weeks earlier, at the Japanese Grand Prix, Colapinto’s name had been at the centre of one of the season’s most disturbing stories, though he was not the cause but the victim: a collision with Haas’s Oliver Bearman during the Suzuka race triggered an avalanche of hateful messages on social media against the Argentine, against Bearman, and against Esteban Ocon, who had been responsible for an earlier collision with Colapinto in China. Alpine responded with something unusual in the Formula 1 paddock: a public open letter published on April 13, signed by the team, which explicitly rejected accusations of sabotage to the Argentine driver’s car.
The letter explained that Colapinto and Gasly had raced with the same equipment, except for minor low-performance-impact components in China when the team had to change gearbox parts. It condemned online abuse. And it sent an unambiguous message about the team’s position regarding their driver: Franco is our driver and the team has placed its trust in him, just as he has with the team.
The Silverstone filming day three days later was the physical continuation of that statement. Colapinto at the wheel of the A526, at the circuit that hosts the British Grand Prix, accumulating laps in typically British weather conditions. In a short video posted by Alpine on their social channels, the Argentine appeared from inside the cockpit with the energy of someone who has left the media storm behind and is ready to work: we are at Silverstone. The beautiful Silverstone, one of the best tracks in the world. It is cloudy, wet, grey, as usual in the UK. You do not see much sunshine here. But we have the car so we are doing a filming day.
The filming day regulations are clear and restrictive: 200 kilometres maximum, Pirelli demonstration tyres, the car in race specification without technical modifications. With the Silverstone Grand Prix configuration, Colapinto could complete approximately 33 laps. It is not a performance test or a development session. It is an opportunity to be in the car, feel the rhythm again, produce content for sponsors and, in Alpine’s current context, demonstrate that the driver is present and active.
Colapinto’s 2026 season numbers to the April break are realistic but improvable. Fourteenth in Australia, tenth in China with the only championship point the Argentine carries so far this season, sixteenth in Japan. Gasly has contributed 15 of the team’s 16 points. Alpine sits fifth in the constructors’ championship, level on points with Red Bull. It is the reflection of a team that has made an enormous leap compared to 2025 thanks to the Mercedes engine adopted over the winter that has given them the most competitive power unit on the market. But the internal gap between the two drivers is visible.
In Japan, Colapinto qualified eight tenths behind Gasly. He finished sixteenth while the Frenchman was seventh, beating four-time world champion Verstappen’s Red Bull. It was not that Colapinto lacked race pace, as he explained himself: the safety car affected me again. I think, looking at the pace, I made a good start, I was behind Lawson, managing the tyres and seemed quite a bit faster than him. And in the end Liam finished ninth. I think we had the pace. I got stuck behind everyone. You cannot overtake.
The Bearman incident during the race was the spark that ignited the controversy. The FIA reviewed the incident and did not apply further penalties. But the social media damage was considerable and Alpine had to take a position. The open letter and the Silverstone filming day are the two faces of the same response: first the words, then the image of the driver in the car.
The calendar ahead for Colapinto is demanding but loaded with opportunities. Miami on May 1-3 is a sprint weekend, with more races and more available points. Montreal May 29-31, another sprint. Monaco on June 7, the toughest street circuit on the calendar where last year Colapinto showed flashes of his abilities as a street circuit specialist. And beyond all of that, on April 26 Colapinto himself has a very special appointment: the Alpine roadshow on the streets of Buenos Aires, his home city, in front of the Argentine fans who have turned his Formula 1 presence into a national cause.
Key quotes and curiosities
Colapinto from the A526 cockpit at Silverstone on April 16: we are at Silverstone. The beautiful Silverstone, one of the best tracks in the world. It is cloudy, wet, grey, as usual in the UK. But we have the car so we are doing a filming day.
Colapinto on the Japan race: the safety car affected me again. I think we had the pace. I got stuck behind everyone. You cannot overtake.
Alpine in the open letter of April 13: Franco is our driver and the team has placed its trust in him, just as he has with the team. Any suggestions of sabotage or not giving Franco the same car are completely unfounded.
Among the curiosities worth noting: Colapinto is the only Argentine driver on the Formula 1 grid since Gastón Mazzacane in 2001. The A526 roadshow on the streets of Buenos Aires on April 26 will be the first official Formula 1 car event in Argentina since the Argentine Grand Prix in 1998. Alpine chose Silverstone for both filming days of the season, making the British Grand Prix host circuit the only track where the A526 has run in 2026 outside of a race environment.
Sources: Planet F1, Sky Sports F1, Motorsport.com, GPBlog, AutoHebdo, Prensa Mercosur, The Race, Alpine F1 official statements
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