Franco Colapinto returned to the Alpine A526 for a Silverstone filming day, marking his first on-track outing since Alpine publicly defended him against online abuse and “sabotage” claims. The session offers the Argentine crucial seat time ahead of Miami and a Buenos Aires roadshow, and puts a spotlight back on the intra-team gap with Pierre Gasly as Alpine presses on with its Mercedes-powered F1 2026 recovery.
Colapinto back in the Alpine A526 at Silverstone
Franco Colapinto drove Alpine’s A526 during a filming day at Silverstone, taking limited laps under damp conditions as the team gathered content and data. The outing was brief — roughly the 200km filming cap — but valuable for a driver searching for rhythm and answers after a tricky run of races.
Why this matters for Alpine and Colapinto
Alpine have shown encouraging signs after switching to Mercedes power, with Pierre Gasly delivering consistent points early in the F1 2026 season. Colapinto’s outings have been more uneven: a first point in China contrasts with a difficult weekend in Japan where he trailed Gasly by around eight-tenths in qualifying and finished well down the order.
The Silverstone filming day is more than PR. For Colapinto it’s a controlled environment to rebuild confidence, refine setup feedback and test small items that don’t require full race weekends. For Alpine it’s a chance to demonstrate parity between drivers and quieten talk around equipment inequality.
Team response to online controversy and equipment parity
Alpine publicly addressed online abuse directed at Colapinto and other drivers, while also denying claims that Colapinto was being denied opportunities or cars equivalent to Gasly’s. The team stressed both drivers have the same core equipment for 2026, apart from minor component differences tied to gearbox changes in China — a clarification aimed at protecting team cohesion as results are scrutinised.
Context: performance, pressure and the schedule ahead
Gasly’s stronger early form places natural pressure on the rookie Argentine, but Alpine’s position after the engine switch remains promising. The five-week gap before the Miami Grand Prix gives the team time to analyse telemetry and setups; Colapinto has explicitly framed that break as an opportunity to understand and reduce his deficit to Gasly.
Colapinto is also slated to appear at a high-profile roadshow in Buenos Aires later this month, an event that raises his local profile and adds another commercial dimension to his season.
Where other teams are in the April pause
Several outfits have used the extended April window for testing and filming. Pirelli tyre work occupied some teams at Suzuka and other venues, while Mercedes and McLaren ran sessions at the Nurburgring. Ferrari is scheduled to run a filming day at Monza, and newcomer programmes have already exhausted their permitted filming allowances for the year.
What it means next
Short-term, Colapinto’s Silverstone laps are pragmatic: limited but focused, aimed at sharpening feedback and confidence. Medium-term, the onus is on Alpine to translate its Mercedes engine upgrade into consistent two-car performance and for Colapinto to close the on-track gap to Gasly.
Publicly rebutting sabotage claims was a necessary management move — it signals Alpine’s intent to protect its drivers and control the narrative while the team irons out performance edges.
The coming races, starting with Miami, will be the real test of whether seat time and internal stability convert into stronger, consistent results for both drivers.
Planet F1
