Colapinto has shown he belongs, will Alpine let him bloom?

Argentine race driver Franco Colapinto put up arguably his best performance as a Formula 1 driver at Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. Starting ninth, he gained a few places on the tricky and narrow Madring track to finish seventh.

While it wasn’t his best finish so far in his career — that honor goes to a sixth-place finish in Canada earlier this year — it seemed to be Colapinto’s most confident performance throughout the two days of racing.

The 23-year-old earned that ninth-place spot in Saturday’s qualifying with a flat-out lap to break into the final stint of the session. He was consistent throughout Sunday’s race, showing pace and holding off much faster cars such as Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.

“It’s got to be one of the best races I’ve had,” Colapinto said after Sunday’s event. “Yesterday was solid too. It was a clean race; I’m happy with my performance.”

The race also brought a moment of pride for Colapinto, who was given an Argentine flag by one of the race stewards during the cool-down lap and held it aloft all the way to the boxes.

“Happy to be able to fly [the Argentine flag]. That stand was packed with Argentines; I’m proud that there were so many. It was a super special moment, and I’m thrilled it happened here,” he said.

Tensions with Pierre Gasly However, the weekend wasn’t all smooth sailing for Colapinto.

The Spanish GP saw him thoroughly outperform his more experienced teammate, France’s Pierre Gasly, and not for the first time this season.

The 30-year-old Frenchman is generally considered the team’s first option and a safe pair of hands, so having Colapinto finish ahead of him ruffled a few feathers and raised questions about the Argentine driver’s future if he continues to develop.

Gasly started in 14th place on hard tires but chose not to pit during the Virtual Safety Car deployed early in the race following Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll’s crash, when most cars dove into the pits.

This allowed him to climb to seventh position but left him needing another incident to bring out a safety car or a red flag, so he could pit and change tires without losing his gains. In F1, drivers are required to use two of the three available tire compounds during the race, which means they must make at least one pit stop.

The issue came in the last few laps of the race, with Gasly running seventh and Colapinto catching up to him. With the Frenchman yet to make a stop and running very degraded tires, many expected him to move out of the way and potentially help the Argentine driver, who was being chased by Piastri’s McLaren.

However, Gasly failed to do so, forcing his teammate to get bogged down behind him and get caught by Piastri, which could have cost him a position.

After the race, radio audio emerged of an increasingly frustrated Colapinto complaining to his engineer about a position swap.

“Guys, let’s not lose more time. Swap, swap. Come on, swap. Honestly, oh my god, for f*ck’s sake,” the 23-year-old can be heard saying.

Similarly, audio of Gasly’s conversation with his engineer at the same time was published by F1, with the French driver complaining about the team leaving him out on the track for so long and telling his engineer “don’t even talk” to him when he was told Colapinto was behind.

Alpine F1 later published a picture of Colapinto and Gasly saluting after the race with the caption “stronger together,” although comments were quick to point out the apparent downplaying of tensions, with many joking that Gasly was also blocking Colapinto’s way around the office.

A rivalry brewing? It’s not the first time Gasly has thrown a spanner in Colapinto’s race.

At the 2025 Dutch GP, Colapinto was fitted with fresh soft tires late in the race, while Gasly was managing older, harder tires, as they sat 12th and 11th, respectively.

With the Argentine making solid time, many expected Gasly to give way. However, the team requested the position swap late, denying Colapinto the opportunity to push and catch Haas F1’s Esteban Ocon, who finished 11th and was later promoted to 10th — the last point-awarding position — due to a 15-second penalty for Mercedes GP’s Kimi Antonelli.

Colapinto was vocal about his frustration afterward, noting that Alpine “failed to do a better job as a team” and explicitly stating that his crew and Gasly’s “didn’t help each other at all.”

Gasly has generally been seen as Alpine F1’s top driver since Colapinto arrived at the team, with the Frenchman regularly receiving technical updates to his car ahead of the Argentine, as he did to great results at the 2026 Dutch GP.

The Argentine driver got the upgrades a race later at the Italian GP in Monza, going on to finish ninth.

If performances like Colapinto’s in Spain continue, questions will begin to arise as to whether Alpine can provide equal footing for both drivers.