> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Our verdict on Alpine keeping Colapinto - URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/our-verdict-alpine-keeps-franco-colapinto-f1-2027/ - Published: 2026-08-27T14:16:43.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-27T14:35:27.000Z - Description: Alpine has seen enough from Franco Colapinto to keep him in its F1 car in 2027 - but is it the right decision? - Author: The Race Team - Tags: Formula 1, #alpine, #franco-colapinto, #secondary_feature_1 Alpine has seen enough from Franco Colapinto to keep him in its Formula 1 car in 2027. Colapinto's time at the team has followed a largely-upward trajectory - but were better options available to what is now a Mercedes customer outfit? Our team give their takes. ## Conservatism rules in F1 **Josh Suttill** In 90% of cases, F1 teams will go conservative when making driver market decisions, and this is further, somewhat frustrating evidence of that. Colapinto brings useful backing and is within an acceptable margin of Pierre Gasly most weekends. But is there an available driver out there who could score more points than Colapinto and get closer than Colapinto's adjusted 0.176s average qualifying deficit to Gasly in 2026? I think so. I'd back Yuki Tsunoda to do so or Liam Lawson if there isn't space for him within Red Bull's teams. Or how about one of Formula 2's leading drivers, who certainly have the potential to do so? New Alpine junior Alex Dunne for example, who looked so impressive in a McLaren last year, but hasn't even been given a chance to shine in an FP1 with Alpine yet. Ultimately Alpine - like a lot of teams - must feel there aren't enough reasons to take that risk to find out. It does feel quite counter to the Flavio Briatore way to hand someone an extension this early when they have less than half the points of their team-mate. And it's ironic that it was a great bit of anti-conservatism from Williams that got Colapinto a foot in the door in the first place and onto Alpine's radar. It just makes you wonder how many other junior talents are being overlooked simply because they're never given a chance to shine like Colapinto was by Williams… ## The right team and driver for each other - right now **Matt Beer** In Alpine's current position of making some progress from a nadir, just not as quickly as it hoped, it has more question marks and problems to tackle than its drivers. So in the absence of an ousted top-tier driver popping onto the market and being up for a gamble, or someone in the junior ranks showing unstoppable future superstar momentum, Colapinto continuity is sensible. He's having a decent enough season; his bad days are a bit worse than you'd hope for with the experience he now has, and his good days aren't quite impressive enough to suggest he'll be that future superstar himself, but he's a known quantity for Alpine and still relatively early in his F1 career with scope to improve. If that sounds like a bit of a 'you'll do' outcome for both driver and team...well, it is. And that's fine for 2027, but you'd hope that over the next 12 months both Alpine and Colapinto would show enough progress to make either or both of them more active players in the 2028 market. ## Alpine needs to rethink juniors **Valentin Khorounzhiy** Did you know that Alpine has two juniors in the top four in the Formula 2 standings right now? You probably didn't, and I can't fault you if so, because neither Gabriele Mini (third in the standings) nor aforementioned former McLaren protege Dunne (fourth in the standings) have been credibly mentioned at all as having a shot at replacing Colapinto. Even Alpine reserve Paul Aron, who is notionally ahead of both in the queue and is something of an FP1 staple, didn't seem to have a realistic shot once Colapinto had dug himself out of his early-season trough. I can't blame Alpine one bit for not taking any of those three bets. Colapinto hasn't been a revelation but he's been plenty good enough to stick with rather than starting from scratch with another 'project' driver. But the fact a change never seemed on the cards at all with Alpine tells me that the drivers they have right now haven't been able to convince the team that they can be future superstars - and should probably seek other pathways, while Alpine should probably look to 'restock' its junior driver cupboard. ## Don't forget the backing **Samarth Kanal** Colapinto's longevity in F1 could rival that of Sergio Perez, given e-commerce juggernaut Mercado Libre's backing of the Argentinian. Mercado Libre is the biggest publicly traded company in South America, with an estimated market cap of $100billion - having just surpassed $10bn in revenue in the second quarter of 2026\. That is some serious backing. And it's no surprise that Colapinto is such an attractive asset in F1 as, with his talent, you get significant exposure to the South American market - and sponsorship money to boot. It's a situation that evokes that of Perez, the third-most experienced driver (by starts) on the 2026 F1 grid. Perez's F1 status has been bolstered by considerable backing from Carlos Slim's America Movil telecommunications giant - and he's weathered numerous storms over the past 15 years. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see Colapinto on the F1 grid for years to come. He's not been the most spectacular driver on the grid but the Miami-Canada brace of top-seven finishes show that he's capable of bringing home points - and those finishes means he can't be written off as a pay driver. Regardless, any analysis of Colapinto's career and potential longevity in F1 needs to be viewed with that Mercado Libre context in mind.